~~Dead or Alive RPG~~

( OOC: Okay, this one is written comepletely different to an actually nicely written post. Although there is good reason for its... interesting layout. This was a style I felt would work with the post itself, and hopefully you both see that as well. I'm... pretty happy with the outcome of this awfully vague post. But bear with it guys! All the half "censored" quotes will actually be featured in Sara's memory arc (( Yes, I want to do one for Sara too :3 )) and this will be one of VERY FEW times during all the memory arcs you'll see this style. Definitely not going to make this a re-occuring feature... xD;;

And with that, I'll end this ridiculously long OOC. Jack, we need to find a way to message each other or... something. Lol please enjoy guys. :3 )

Sara?/???/???/???/???

...

It's so dark here...

I can't see anything.

Everything is black.

Where am I?

Where is everybody?

...

Who is everybody?

What am I doing here?

What am I doing?

I can't feel anything.

I can't even feel myself.

What's going on?

Who put me here?

...

Who is...

...

Me...?

Who am...

I?

...

"..."

...

I can hear something now.

What can I hear?

I hear... words.

I hear... voices.

What are they saying?

I want to know.

I want to know the words.

I want to know the words they are saying.

I want to listen.

I need to listen.

"You're an idiot!"

... what?

"You heard me, you're an idiot! You can't just say stuff like that without..."

The voice... it's too quiet... I can't...

... I don't understand.

I... need to listen more.

...

"What do you mean, you're dangerous?"

"I... I don't know how to explain... I'm just too dangerous for..."

"..."

"..."

"...Who cares?"

"...huh?"

"All I care about is being with you. Who cares if it's dangerous? You're..."

OOC: Hey! Great post Luck! Well, it's been awhile, but its about time to continue on and hit the more heavy stuff. Memory lane is going to cross roads very soon, and I'm very excited to see the outcome of how things will turn out. Just like with every post, I don't see what happens until I write it, that way, it stays true to actually "living" through this world. In fact, its come to the point where every character seems to have a life of their own, so much so that they make the story up automatically as they go on their own. I only watch and record what I see in it, and live through it, being me.

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“Can we sleep together?”

Rave turned his head. Her eyes were sparkling as she stared at him. The night sky spread endlessly above them, and white stars ran scattered across the black abyss. The sky was a shadow. A net. It trapped all that were lost in it, even those who were looking upwards and not even aware of it.

They lay on the blanket spread out in his backyard. Even with it beneath them, he could feel the dampness of the earth and the grass as he occasionally grazed along the sidelines of the border. Retrieving his senses came a light tug from the sleeve of his shirt as she pulled him in closer.

“I want to sleep here…” She whispered.

Rave blinked, looking into her eyes. They were a soft brown, and they were pleasant, like the sweet taste of honey. He remembered looking at those eyes, feeling himself being absorbed into them as she awaited curiously, not knowing what he’d say… anticipating his answer.

She snuggled close into him and buried her cheek into his side. “It feels nice…” she mumbled.

“… yeah.” His eyes closed halfway. He looked into the sky, his mind completely away from the moment. Perhaps many would love to have a happy, beautiful, cute girl hugging them underneath the stars and speaking to them so tenderly in his ear. But he didn’t. He didn’t. Because he knew.

“…Dave?”

“Oh?” He turned his head back.

“What’s… wrong?”

“Nothing.” His voice was flat. He continued looking upwards. “Nothing’s wrong at all, I’m just-”

“…tired?”

“…yeah, I guess so.”

She laughed. “We had a lot of fun with that pillow fight, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well. Yeah, I think so~” He forced a smile, his tone suddenly warmed up. “Well, I blame you for that. You and your--”

“Yeah? Well. You think too much.”

“I do?”

“Yeah…”

His eyes opened slightly.

“I can tell…” she said to him. “You… don’t want to be with me.”

“Huh?” He blinked. “What are you talking about?” for the first time, he looked back at her. When he saw her face, he saw it was dim. It was in pain. “No, of course not. Of course it’s not that I don’t want to be with you, silly.”

“You don’t have to lie… silly…”

Rave sighed. “Now, why would you-”

“Because you know I’m going to die.”

Rave blinked again.

“You told me… remember? So…” she looked down, her voice losing her joy. “I know…” there was a slight coarseness to it now, a tinge of disappointment, of hurt, of pain, and he didn’t like it.

They was silence for awhile. None of them could really speak. Rave took a deep breath and then turned away from her. “I’m sorry.”

“Hm?” There was something about how she just changed her voice right now. It was slightly sarcastic, almost as if pointing fun at the situation.

“Well, if I’m going to die someday, right~ then you’ll never be able to tell me these things if you keep it to yourself, right?” She looked up at the stars. “That must hurt… right?”

A silver sliver ran down the side of her face. Rave just stared at her, his eyes locked on her.

“You’re doing it… for me.”

“I’m not holding anything in, I just don’t want to hurt you.” He said.

“You’re only hurting yourself.”

“How?”

“Well, and how would you know how--” She stopped. “No. You don’t realize it, do you?”

“What? What am I not realizing?”

“You’re not just hurting yourself.” She looked back at him, and then she pulled his shirt by the chest slightly, inching closer. “You’re hurting me.”

Rave choked. He looked at her for awhile, not being able to say too much.

“If I’m about to die… and if I will die sometime… would you really want me to leave when there are things that are left, unsaid?” she asked carefully, faintly. Her voice was soft, humble, cute, her entire soul so open and vulnerable. So open it was like he could almost just reach out and grab it. “Wouldn’t… that hurt?”

And here he was thinking he was thinking one step ahead of her. He looked at her, carefully, before he turned onto his back and looked up for awhile, “Tracy…”

“What is it…?”

“I know what you’re talking about.” He suddenly said, his voice exasperated. “I know that if you see me hurt, that it hurts you too. I know that. I know, but… I, I’d rather that I be hurt as it is rather than tell you what I think and have you hurt more because of it…”

“I think if I were you, and I heard it, that I’d be hurt, so…” he nodded. “Yeah.”

“I don’t think it’ll hurt me as much as you think it will.”

“Why?”

“Because I hurt more seeing you in pain.”

“Huh?”

“And that is something you will never understand.” She said. “Because it’s something you can’t put yourself in my situation. You can’t…” she paused, then laughed a little. “You can’t see yourself.”

“See… myself?”

“Yeah…” she sighed. “You can’t see what I see… you can’t…” her voice trailed off. “… such a wonderful person… such a deep heart, such a deep soul… who cares way too much… who does the stupidest things… makes me laugh… puts a smile on my face… makes my entire life so worth living…”

“I’m not-”

“You can’t see… that wonderful person, that’s just right there, right in front of you… someone that you have such a tender spot and feeling to… laying there, hurting… and you can’t even imagine, how much it hurts… to see them hurting themselves so much just to protect you. You have no idea… how much I feel…”

“Ugh…”

“So when you say… that what you think will hurt me… I can only imagine… how much you’re thinking about how much you want to protect me from yourself… and how you hate it how you think that way… how much you hate that you can’t do anything about it.”

She could see he was hurting now. She could see it, she could feel his body tensing, she could feel his body slightly warming up. So her response to this was to move closer to him, and she came closer, so she could feel him.

“So… don’t hurt yourself… don’t be afraid.” She nested her head on his chest. “I want to be the one… who can take that pain from you…”

“My pain…” Rave mumbled. “You’re the one… dying… you’re the one… who needs to not be in pain.” He clicked his teeth. “So why is it that… when I try to protect you, it ends up hurting you the most?”

“Because… when I see that you protect me…” she said. “It makes me love you even more…”

“I… don’t want you to…”

“Because you know it’ll hurt me…”

“Yes…”

“But can you stop me…? From loving you?”

“Why do you love me?”

“I don’t know. Many reasons.”

“Why?”

“Why do you always seem so sad?”

“Sad?”

“Gloomy… sad… is it really because of me?”

“…you?”

“Perhaps its because… you love me?”

“I don’t know what you’re--”

“There’s this hidden sadness behind your warmest smile… I want to know… why its there.” her voice trailed off, and she looked back at him.

“I-”

“Do you remember?” She asked. “The first day I met you?”

“…yeah, of course I do.”

“Remember when I wanted to stay close, and I didn’t want to leave you?”

“…yeah…”

“I didn’t want to…” she shook her head. “I didn’t want to leave you…”

“You stayed.”

“Yes…” she nodded.

“Was it because you felt sorry for me?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that…”

“You didn’t have to.” His voice was a bit distant now. “You didn’t have to feel sorry for me.”

She shook her head. “Please. Do me a favor… talk to me like if you knew I was going to die tomorrow…”

He blinked. He didn’t expect her to bring such a thing up. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if it could be the truth.

“Hey, don’t--”

“Promise.”

He looked at her carefully. “Ok… promise.”

She smiled. “Thanks~” she pulled closer and closed her eyes.

“It will hurt…” He said, slowly. “I can’t see anything for us other than pain… the closer I get to you, the more it’ll hurt us… I don’t want that to happen… I don’t want that to be.”

“Mn…” she nodded, closing her eyes.

“Yeah, I can be cold… maybe it will hurt you…but maybe that’s better than what will happen if I allow us to be closer. I… feel this weight on top of me. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me, and at the same time, I don’t want to get hurt because of you either… I can’t.”

“Ah…”

“If we stopped… if we didn’t do anything… then we’d be more happy… I think.”

“Mn…”

“And… if this… was really your last day to live…” He paused. “I don’t think I’d be able to handle the pain if you were gone…”

“But what if you knew… that I was very happy? That I died… so nice, with a smile on my face?”

“I’d miss you too much… I wouldn’t be able to do it. I couldn’t find somebody who knew me like you do…”

“Of course you would… there are many girls like me out there in the world…”

“No. There’s not.” He shook his head. “You’re the only you. You’re the only Tracy.” He sighed. “My* Tracy.”

She closed her eyes tight. There were no words to be said, she just hugged him. “My Dave…”

He closed his eyes. “… how long will this last… really, what do you think?”

“Hm…?”

“This moment…this happiness… how long do you really think it’ll last?”

“Well…” she smiled. “It’ll last only as long as we live through it…”

“…yeah…”

“Sure, it’ll be gone… right? And maybe we won’t even remember half of the things we ended up saying.” She said. “But… the feeling… that… that will never go away…”

“Even feelings come and go…” Rave said, laughing a little.

“But memories always stay with us…” Tracy laughed. “Even when we’re old, we may not be able to do much, but we’d have such a rich amount of memories. Enough… to last a lifetime…”

“Haha… stupid.”

“Hm?” She looked surprised.

“You make it sound like you’ll end up growing old someday… well - maybe you’re lucky you’ll die young…”

“Who said I’d die young?” She asked.

Rave paused for a second. Huh? He blinked, not knowing how to respond to that. Finally, after a few seconds, he asked her: “What?”

“Yeah… who said I’d die young?”

“You did. Didn’t you?”

“How do you know what I meant when I said that?”

“I didn’t-- but.”

“I’m not going to die yet.” She told him. “Geez, I was just joking about tomorrow. And how do you know what I meant when I said ‘old’. If we were fifteen, that’s still old!”

“Fifteen isn’t old.”

“Yes it is! That’s how old… well, you know… those high school people are.”

“Look, but you told me--”

“I told you I knew when I was going to die, but I’d never tell you when.”

“Because then… if you don’t know when I’ll die… then you have no choice but to be honest with me. You won’t have to hold back. See… just telling you I might die tomorrow… was that what I had to do in order for me to see the real you?”

“Ugh! I-”

“Sometimes… people will never tell you the truth about what they think of something unless they know you’re about to do something big. Like leave town forever, or get really mad at them, or cry, or… die.”

“Well--!”

“If you knew I was going to die tomorrow… if you knew I was going to get hurt tomorrow… if you knew if you said something, that it’d make me act a certain way… wouldn’t you change it? To say something so it wouldn’t be that way?”

“…well… yes.”

“But then you ask yourself… if you didn’t know… then isn’t that better?”

“Huh? How?”

“Because you wouldn’t have to worry… you would just be yourself.”

Rave opened his eyes.

“We usually say things and do something because we know that if we do something else, it’ll result in a way that we don’t want it to.” She continued softly. “So we do things that we know will control the situation…”

“Yeah.”

“But if you didn’t know the situation… what would you do? Would you really be safe and not even take a chance at it… or would you give it a shot? A blind shot in the dark?”

“I don’t…”

“I just want you to be you… I just want you to be who you are. The good, the bad, everything. If you knew and were able to see that everything you did would predict or make something or someone think one way, then yeah, you could make it so that everything would go the way you want. And I see that in you… you can see the future sometimes, you have insight, and because of that you’ll withold being yourself for the sake of happiness…”

“You know this…”

“I want you to know that the best thing… that I’ve realized, for knowing how long I’ll live in my life… is that when you know that you have no choice but to be yourself… you obtain a certain amount of freedom… it’s a special kind of freedom. Something that not a lot of people in this world ever really have. You don’t do things to just please people, to please people to please yourself. You don’t do things because you’re trying to get something, you don’t do things because you want what you want. You do things… and you do everything that you do… because its you.”

“But everybody wants something.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “But can you blame yourself for wanting what you truly want?” she closed her eyes. “That’s honesty. And being able to make peace with yourself…”

“Make peace… with myself…”

“Dave.” She paused. “If it wasn’t for me. If it wasn’t for anybody. What would you like to do right now? If you really wanted to do something?”

Rave looked at her.

“What would you do…? Isn’t there something? Anything? Or are you holding back because you know if you say something that it’ll end up backfiring against you?”

“I don’t know…” He paused. “But I want to ask you something.”

“Sure.”

“You know what you’re doing… don’t you?”

“Hm?” She tilted her head.

“You know what you’re doing.” He repeated again, then exhaled.

“What do you mean?”

“You know that if you tell me this, that you’ll get what you want. That I’ll be open to you.” He answered. “That is, you actually are controlling the situation and me.”

“I didn’t think about that.” Tracy responded.

Rave was a bit scared. Where was this coming from? This force that he could feel now behind Tracy’s voice. It was awkward to him, he didn’t know why, but he felt that everything that she was saying was true, but if what she was saying was true, how would he know that she wasn’t using this very information against him? All he knew was that he was using the same very information to defend himself right now. Defend himself because if Tracy knew that her actions influenced how the outcome could be, she could totally use it to make it so that he was more open.

But… there was a part of his mind that was nagging him right now.

Was that really bad?

Even if she wanted that, does that mean that what she was doing was something that would hurt him? Because if she loved him, she was probably doing this for the benefit for both of them.

Then why didn’t he feel comfortable about it? Was it because what she said was right? Or was it because what she said was something that just showed how insightful and powerful she was? Then again, the fact that he could block this all off and be aware of this was testament to the fact that she wasn’t the only one who was ahead of the game.

Tracy was still looking at him, he realized that she was probably watching him this whole time thinking. He knew that obviously his internal thoughts wouldn’t be given away, but his mere actions were more than enough to give this intuitive girl some good hints of what was going on in his mind.

“Hm” she said softly. “Well, what do you think…? Do you not trust me?”

If he spoke his mind, he wondered if it would only make him more vulnerable to what Tracy really wanted. Then again, if that was all it took, then he had been open game this entire time. Open game since he started opening up to her ever since she told him to talk to her if he knew she were going to die.

Aha! But that’s where it started. That’s where it all started. She knew that it would effect him like that, and because of that… she was able to manipulate the situation. She probably wasn’t even aware of it… but… if that were the case, then… how far did this power really go into things? How much could someone… if they knew what was going to happen…

(See ahead five or ten steps into the future?)

His head went blank. He blinked, a couple times, before he looked to Tracy.

There was another thing she had said though, and it had seemed so sincere too. She was talking about how when you are honest with yourself, that you attain something that someone rarely ever had. At least that’s what she said (or he thought she said). And that was ‘freedom’. Freedom to do what you really wanted to do. So perhaps… if she was going off that philosophy just alone… then wouldn’t that mean that in the end this was telling him that what she really wanted all along was to make him happy? Give him this freedom? Did she even know he was going to think of everything she had just said in depth like this? Did she expect him to even look at her own words and even turn it against her? To analyze it? To seriously consider it as if it were true fact? Because if she did, if she knew, then… is this how she wanted it to be? Even up to this? Or did she not know… and he was one step ahead of her by taking it this way?

His silence didn’t seem to effect her. She continued to be the same way she was. She didn’t seem panicked, strange enough. Her entire body language at this point did nothing alarming, even after he had accused her of such a crazy thing. But is that because she knew that if she did, that it would effect the circumstance? Or did that mean…

“You do it a lot… you know…” Tracy suddenly said.

“Huh?” Rave shook his head.

“You think so much because you want to make the best outcome… that’s why you hestitate instead of just being yourself…”

Rave blinked twice.

“See? Can’t you see? The fact that you can’t move right now… the fact that you’re thinking so much about things, that shows that you really do want to do things to manipulate the situation so you won’t be caught up.”

Rave’s mind went blank again.

She had a point.

The fact that he was analyzing and thinking about this… wondering what he should do… didn’t that just prove to him that he was… that he wanted to do something according to how he knew how things worked and would play out? Is that why he had to think twice before coming up with an action, while Tracy, so easily, was just saying whatever she wanted right now?

“I…”

“You don’t know?”

“It’s weird. What you just said right now, it makes me so much more aware…”

He realized he didn’t even think about what he was saying anymore at this point, and for the moment, he wanted to keep it that way. Maybe he’d find out the more he went along.

Tracy laughed. “It makes you really aware, right?”

“But… what happens when you’re NOT aware… that’s what I wonder.”

“When you’re… not aware?”

“Like, yeah. When you’re doing something like that, to control the situation, but you don’t even know it. You don’t realize how good you are.”

Wait, she was making him open up… wasn’t this proof of how good she was? What was happening here… this was really getting to him now.

“I don’t think its about not knowing how good you are, or whatever. It’s just accepting the fact that this is how we work as people… and… when we do do that, we end up not being honest to ourselves, our own intentions, and we end up pleasing others.”

“Do you … have any idea if you’re pleasing me or yourself at this point?”

She looked at him, a little confused, before laughing. “What do you mean?”

“No, I mean. Do you have any idea what your intent is right now? And do you have any idea what I’m thinking at this point?”

She shook her head. “I don’t really know what you’re thinking, but you look a little freaked out…”

“I am… kind of freaked out.”

“Oh!” She grit her teeth. “I’m sorry! I didn’t want that!”

“No, but look, its fine.” Rave told her. “Because think about it, if you were being honest with yourself, you can’t deny that you really want something. But you just don’t realize the means that you’re doing in order to get it, because you’re not aware you want it. You just do, and you go for it.”

“Well…”

“Everybody wants something, Tracy.” Rave suddenly then said. “Whether its me, whether its you, whether its your father or its your mother.” He made a deep sigh. “But the main things is this… when people of this world want different things… then there’s conflicts, there’s wars. If what one person doesn’t want isn’t in agreement with another, and both parties are aware of this… it changes things. Being honest with yourself is opening yourself up to being pit up against someone who doesn’t want what you want if you show them so openly what it is that you’re going for.”

Tracy laughed at this. “Sometimes… we don’t realize sometimes that as even enemies… when it comes down to it, in the end… when it comes to the very foundation of things… that we all actually really want the same thing.”

“Our happiness.”

Tracy nodded. “Exactly, our happiness.”

“But everybody’s happiness is different.”

“Not as much as you might think.” Tracy said, shaking her head. “As humans, we all want certain things…”

“But we’ll go through pain if we want to fight for something that will make us overall happy.”

“Is that why you fight though? To destroy another person’s happiness and make your own?”

“No…”

“But you are, when you do that… right?”

“I guess…”

“So what can make two people happy? And how can two people get to the point where they both can identify that and work towards that together?”

“Yeah…”

“Knowing things… and not knowing things… then, makes all the difference in the world.”

“I see…”

“Like… if I told you I won’t die. And I didn’t have a disease… would that… make you happy?”

Rave blinked.

“What if I never had a disease in the first place… and I told you that… wouldn’t that make you mad?”

Rave shook his head again, his mind was bursting.

“What if I just told you all this and that I’d live to be old… but then tomorrow I really did end up dying… now wouldn’t that make you feel regret?”

Rave didn’t know what to say. She was right.

“It… changes things….”

Rave nodded. It did. It did. It did change things. This is what Tracy somehow knew, and that’s why she didn’t want to tell him when she’d “die” because she knew that it would change certain things.

Now the question was: did she love him to the fact that because she knew it would change things that she protected him from it? Or was it because: did she do this to the fact knowing that if she did these things, and he was aware of it, it would allow him to love her? And if that was what she really wanted?

“My head hurts…” Rave shook his head.

What are your own intentions? His head asked himself. What is it that you really want? Or do you even know that? Would you even be comfortable knowing, if you found out, deep inside, that everything you did was so that you could have it just how you wanted…?

At this point, Rave experienced something that he had never experienced until now for the first time: the curse of knowing how it is to see things in advance and be aware of a singular part of his own small ability of “genius”. Being able to see through all this, and look at the situation as he did, completely changed the way that he saw many things. Who was his true self? Who was Tracy’s true self? Could he even trust Tracy? How could he trust -- himself?! It was just so weird…

“I don’t know what to say…” he finally said. “I… really… don’t know what to say.”

He remembered then, closing his eyes, and taking a short nap, to escape from this nightmare and the madness of his mind.

It was the midst of night. There was nothing except darkness around him, but he could feel the soft cotton texture of her clothing as she rested beside him. She was breathing softly, calmly, almost at perfect peace. Just laying next to him with her hair shining, spread all around… he felt like he had a little black-haired angel.

His eyes closed halfway. “I don’t know what to do…” he said outright. There were too many things that were tearing into him at the moment. “I want… I want some sort of answer…. please…. help me… something. Someone. God….”

He didn’t know the future. He didn’t know how things would turn out. But he did have a feeling that there was going to be something that would happen that would end up eating him alive. That would be the livelihood of this girl.

She was sweet. She was nice. So why did he never open himself up to her? Even when he thought he was being open… he felt this distance. Like a faraway cloud that was drifting away. How so…?

(The closest person is probably the only person you want to get the most distance from between you…) His mind thought aloud.

A spectrum of light flooded the room as she stepped inside it, timidly grasping her mother's hand. With her other free hand, she shielded her eyes from the light as the different colors seemed to rain over her in a sort of rainbow glory. What was all this...? Where was she again...? She didn't know...

"Suzuka, be on your best behavior." Akemi placed a cold palm on top of her daughter's head and held it there firmly. "The woman that I'll be talking to is very important."

"Yes, ma maa." Suzuka answered in a meek voice, trying not to dissapoint her mother by answering promptly, bowing slightly.

She then looked around her. There was some very interesting furniture here... they almost looked archaic. What was this place exactly? Suzuka looked to the side, then looked up and down, slowly making out the scenery despite the luminosity that descended from the stained glass above.

"Halt."

A new voice, a refreshing one, entered the scene, as well as a sharp jolt of pain as Akemi pinched her daughter tightly on her arm. Suzuka winced, but not before looking up to see a woman covered by a shawl.

Her upper face was completely masked, but Suzuka could make out the bottom structure so well, and she could tell that this lady was beautiful. Her presence seemed captivating as well, suddenly seated before them as if on a throne. She was wearing a long sleeved transparent dress drooping from all around her, cast reflected off the sunlight. Suzuka could barely see her, but she could make out her figure. She could barely discriminate, but she could tell that this was beauty. The very essence of it, almost, seemed embodied in this one woman's form.

Akemi, the proud and the graceful, stepped forward to meet this woman squarely.

"I've come to talk about your brother..."

...

"Suzuka! Hey, Suzuka, you there?"

Suzuka drearily opened her eyes to see Pedro's face right in front of her, nudging her to wake up. Her eyes fluttered a little, completely foreign to this new sense of vision with no play of lights. What was that she had seen, not too long ago...? And why was it that she had not remembered this at all until now? Had it been a gap in her memory...? Had it been something she just somehow seemed to never recall until now? Because there was something almost strikingly nostalgic about what she saw just then... it was as if recalling a series of memories that were long lost to her just moments before. Where was this feeling... coming from?

The snow ebbed at her as Pedro continued to shake her.

"Hey, we don't have time to be messing around." He told her. "We have to make our way up to where our destination is."

Suzuka nodded weakly, before pulling herself together and standing up.

Just awhile ago, they were looking at both DW and Rave's bodies, comfortably resting on the chairs that linked them to the virtual world of XX792. Now she was here... along with the real DW, who was now in the guise of Pedro's body. She was tempted to treat her as him many times, but forced herself to stop whenever she remembered the true situation.

But it was hard, sometimes. It was hard.

"Are you ok?" her partner asked.

"I... don't know." She said, truthfully. "What was it that I just saw, awhile ago...?"

"An illusion, maybe?" Pedro shrugged. "I haven't seen anything, so whatever it was must've been all you."

Suzuka shook her head. "Yeah..." she paused, "you know what...?"

"Hm? Yeah?" Pedro looked back at her.

"When will I get to talk to the real you?" she asked, almost hesitantly.

"Hm...? The... real me?" Pedro looked at her inquisitively. "Are you talking about me as DW... or are you talking about...?"

"No," Suzuka said, shaking her head, "I'm wondering when I'll get to talk to Pedro." her voice was surprisingly confident, she hadn't expected herself to be so bold about it all. "I'm wondering when I can talk to him again... I feel... comfortable talking to him about stuff."

"You do, do you..." There was a soft smile that crept up her partner's lips, right then, almost as if she knew. "...I see, I bet you would." Was there a hint of jealousy, right there?

Suzuka looked away. It wasn't right talking to this girl about what she was feeling, for some reason. She didn't feel as... comfortable. Was that the word? It must have been though. It wasn't like she didn't respect the woman... well, maybe she did to an extent... but it went beyond that too.

She couldn't joke around and be sarcastic around her like she could with Pedro.

It was kind of awkward, but it was kind of like she felt a little trapped right now. At least with Pedro, he'd find some way to throw a dead corpse at her for no reason and randomly play around with her about something - despite these dire times - with DW, however, it seemed like everything was business.

And plus, she wanted to talk to Pedro about what she just saw. She figured if she talked to "DW" about it, it just wouldn't be the same. Well, maybe... but would it be worth giving it a shot?

Suzuka sighed. See, this is exactly what she was talking about - simply business. No fun at all, huh? But then again, this wasn't really the time to be having fun -- what was she thinking?

She put one foot ahead of her and started on her way to follow the girl. For awhile, the two made their way up the mountain path without saying any words, they simply walked. Suzuka would place one foot ahead of the other and drudge along the unknown territory as they made their way up a few potholes and other random terrain on the way. It wasn't so much of a walk in the park or a hike in the mountains as it was just a toll. Sure, there was nature around her, but she couldn't really focus much on that. All she could focus on was how empty this whole trek seemed to her. How empty, and how...

"So. What did you see-?"

Her partner finally broke the eternal silence. Suzuka was wondering if that was going to happen. Then again, she couldn't complain. She wasn't in much of a mood right now. But she did realize that if she didn't talk to someone about what she just saw, that there wasn't going to be anyone that she'd be able to talk to all. So she decided to give it a shot.

"I saw something from my past." She said, a little grumpily, not missing a beat and continued to plow forward. "There was a scene from a long time ago... when I was a child. I was with my mother, and we went somewhere to visit someone... seemed like it was some sort of holy woman... or something."

"A... holy woman?"

"Yeah..." She shook her head. "I know it doesn't make any sense, nevermind what I just said." she sighed.

"Well... how do you know if it was real or just a dream? You said it was a memory, but it doesn't seem like you're really familiar with it."

There was that. True. It could've been that. "Yeah, I guess it could've been just a random imagination, or dream, or whatever you want to call it. But... somehow it just felt real."

"Felt real..." she repeated.

"Yep, it felt real." Suzuka restated. She wasn't very angry or frustrated, but her tone of voice sure wasn't friendly either. "It felt like something I had forgotten for a long time until now for some reason."

"That's... interesting." DW said, seeming a little perked about something. There was a hint of something in her voice that told Suzuka that there was more to what she was thinking.

"What do you mean?" She suddenly said.

"Well, it might be possible that your memories might have been locked away here..." DW said, putting one hand under her chin. "This place is also known for that..."

Her partner looked back at her, and what she saw were Pedro's eyes, dead serious and extremely sharp as he peered at her. "This place wasn't just made for the sake of creating a virtual world. It was made to encase and to lock away certain individuals memories."

Suzuka made a double take. "Wait, what? This place was made not only to be a virtual ego of CYPHER's ability, but also..."

"Think of it as a treasure chest that holds the memories and thoughts of certain individuals that were taken away from them... for a reason. For a purpose."

"What?!" Suzuka literally jumped at this. "So what are you telling me? Do you think that its my memories that are here that are calling out to me or something?"

DW shrugged. "It may be. It's interesting once you think about it. For me, I already have all my memories intact, so there's nothing for me to really remember. This should be the same thing for 'him' too." She looked up. She must've been thinking about Pedro. "Even so though, it's kind of weird that you would be missing some memories, or that you might actually have some memories here that are locked away that you'll need to find."

"Need to find?" Suzuka repeated. "Ok, need to find? What do you mean? Am I just supposed to wander in this godforsaken snow-land until I get them back? Or is something supposed to happen."

Her partner rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure something is supposed to happen. But that would be up to the main moderator of this entire world. Pride."

"Pride..." Suzuka looked at her inquisitively.

"...chances are he already knows that you're inside his world." She told her. "You should watch out. Be careful." She then stopped, looking out into the horizon, before continuing on.

A scent of lust and iniquity dripped slowly down the fine edge of the blade as Soar looked at the amazing figure before him. Her body was full-figured, with flesh pure– chaste and unblemished; plump with health and a freshness beyond his senses. But she was strong. Refined. Beautiful. Perfect.

The person inside of Ariel Skye at that moment did not like the look that this man gave at all. In fact, it almost made him angry. But he knew of Soar’s strength, he knew of what he was capable of, and he knew that he had to take this battle carefully.

Pedro spun the sword’s handle around his wrist slowly, once, then twice, before setting his left hand underneath his right. This was the typical form of someone who wielded a Japanese Katana, which was slightly angled and bent such as to be used in this procedure and style.

Two-hands... knees slightly bent, eyes focused on target... he remembered going to Japan and learning Kendo in Mishimakita Koukou. The Dojo had a smell of prestige oak wood, cleaned to perfection, with banners hanging down from side to side. The yells of his piers as they practiced their routines, warming up, going all out, then warming down, were all part of the memories that he well remembered.

Soar saw it: that small glint in his opponent’s eyes, something that told him that there was going to be some spice in this battle. He loved it. His lips were too dry, so he slowly circled his tongue around them once again, squinting profusely in excitement and anticipation.

He burst forth at Soar, keeping his hands and his arms straight with the Japanese katana -moving- quickly moving to the side and slashing diagonally. Soar simply dodged, smiling evilly as he moved to the left, raising his sword up above his head before slicing down at his opponent’s shoulder.

Pedro moved quickly, looked back, and then burst out to the side, rotating his hips such that he could avoid the blow with the outmost accuracy. Afterwards– he moved forward, swinging his sword horizontally, only to be blocked by the all too ostentatious Soar, who simply parried his attack and stepped backwards.

Pedro moved with the flow, stepping with it as much as his body could bear. Afterwards he blocked three blows by Soar, ducked underneath one, blocked another two lower horizontal strikes, before executing an offensive assault of his own - striking twice at the head, slashing diagonally across his midsection, and swinging his sword horizontally from below.

Soar simply dodged all this, dodged and blocked all this, completely evading and avoiding every single one of Pedro’s moves. The lust was now building inside him, he could feel his body start to heat up. This feeling was an amazing one, it was almost as if his entire being was swelling with life and vitality. To be able to fight this beautiful woman, this beautiful girl, was almost music to his ears. The thrill and the excitement that Soar got from fighting such a beautiful and elegant being only served to increase his mental stamina, and every single move that rang purely seemed to glorify the thing in his mind that he loved the most: beauty.

Now Soar’s definition of beauty is more extreme than most people, his definition of beauty deals with the proportions, the aesthetics, and the gentlest touch of the womanly body. From the face, the very tip of the head to the very soles of the feet of the toes– this is what Soar looked at; and according to his scale, his assortment of beauty took place.

Now, with this girl, he saw something that he rarely saw in a person before… the utmost complexion, the utmost grace, the utmost care that she had taken to preserve her body and make it such that it was perfect - it was almost as if she was at the very peak of her very life. So much beauty, so much elegance, so much power, so much refined strength, so much of everything - it was staring at him right in front of his face as he continued to attack her.

And it was because of these facts that he decided he did not want to hurt her– at all. He saw many openings, and there were some weaknesses… but he would not expose them. For he wanted to see her at her glory, wanted to see her with her strength, wanted to see that fire in her eyes that screamed and told him how ferocious and how… ambitious her every attack would scream.

So he played around. He moved, frolicking back and forth, parrying, attacking– slightly, with a small smile on his face the entire time, almost mockingly, looking at the girl and inspecting every single inch of her body.

Pedro could sense this as he watched Soar, he could sense his eyes looking at the figure of DW’s body. Not only was DW wearing a very fit attire, but it was also very stunning, and as such he could only imagine how beautiful that this body looked as she continued fighting the way that she had.

In a way, he felt that he was not doing enough justice to DW’s body as he could feel that his– that this body, could actually move a lot more faster that he could comprehend or think. It was beyond him. And it almost scared him.

The muscle memory of this woman was amazing, and the way that she was able to move was even farther– was even further, than his own, he believed. There was a certain speed here that was attained that he had never felt before in his entire life. It was such that he could only… feel it, but he was not very used to making anything of it. But that was the challenge, now wasn’t it?

Slowly but surely, Pedro started to realize that the limits of DW’s body almost seemed limitless as they continued to attack. Before he knew it, he began to pick up how fast he could actually move and handle the sword around, how quick he could change his stances, how much faster he could move as he continued to use the body with a force that matched his will and his ferocity.

It seemed that Soar began to realize this, as now Pedro -in the body of DW- began to move at an unbelievable speed, her rate only increasing more and more as she continued to fight alongside him. The moves and the stances, the elegance and the grace, the speed and the precision, the strength and the power, they were all increasing at such an unbelievable rate to him. Before he knew it, Pedro had struck him twice over the head, on the side, across the abdomen, and below the leg, breaking off armor and knocking Soar completely out of balance, causing him to stumble before falling down on the floor.

Soar didn’t know what to make of this, he was so busy inspecting, investigating, and looking at this beauty that he could not believe what was happening right before his eyes. This perfect beauty was actually… beyond him. She was fast. In the span of ten seconds, this woman had accelerated her strikes such that it had gone beyond his limit of both analyzing and blocking at the same time.

Soar now realized, that this woman was so strong, that he had to focus everything he had into actually fighting if he were to keep up with her– and if he did not, then he would most likely be dead.

Pedro now looked at his opponent with a renewed sense of vigor and confidence. This man, that had fallen before him, was now looking at him with his mouth agape and his jaw in awe. It was only at this time that Pedro realized how much DW actually had trained her body. It was something that was beyond what he had imagined at first. It was almost as if all these things that she had undergone was not only through physical training, but from mental training as well - for it did not only take mental capabilities in order to keep up with the body and the movement at which she used, but, it also took a mental knowledge and capacity in order to comprehend every single strike, every single counter, and every single intricate step that would allow victory in any sort of battle.

It was almost a mental kind of game altogether. To be able to think at such a rate, in order to be able to move and to think at such a rate, was so new and refreshing to him. He realized now that if he had the same sort of mindset when he had attacked earlier, and if he had attacked as himself, he would be a very powerful person indeed. But could his mind and his body keep up at the same rate? He didn’t know. But then again, he would never know unless he had tried. The way that DW had moved now at this point only seemed to prove one more single thing to him: that the impossible was possible, and that if one could think it, one could achieve it, because that is exactly what her body had shown him this entire time.

He then burst forward to Soar, not worrying about much of anything less. He began to strike relentlessly, speeding up with every single blow. Before Soar knew it, Pedro was upon him striking many times, tens, fifteens of times per second, hitting him in every single angle at every single possibility at every single opening he could think possible. As fast as mind could perceive it, he was able to move at that degree, and as every single blow and strike that Soar attempted to make to him failed at every attempt, Pedro could only imagine how powerful DW’s body would be if used in proper application to any sort of battle that she would go to.

Could it be possible that his own body could be like this? He didn’t know, but then again he didn’t have any time to think about it as he continued to just move with the flow, attacking at every single point and advantage.

At this point Soar knew that this woman was beyond his own power. He couldn’t understand it, he couldn’t comprehend it, but he did know that he simply could not reach her at all. There was something about the way that she attacked that made it such that he didn’t even have any time for an opening. He didn’t even have any time to expose anything– at all. So he did the only thing he could think of doing– he called upon the power of Ranken.

A long time ago Ranken had given him a power, and this power could only be used once in a blue moon… and this was the time he could use it. (Was it possible that he could actually use it?) Yes, he could– and he knew that with this power she would be unable to do anything about it. It slowed time to almost one thousandth of a second, and he would be able to slash as many times as he wanted. This only lasted once– for only a split second… he was able to do so.

He grinned with iniquity as he licked his lips. There was one thing that he desired most of all, and he wanted to see it.

Pedro had raised his arms up in the air to finish and to execute what seemed to be an almost perfect blow to finish this battle once and for all, when he saw Soar quickly lick the corner of his lips. It confused him, and it perked his body too, as there was a slight jolt as he saw something extremely sinister that sparkled within Soar’s eyes.

Before he knew it, Soar had simply disappeared. He could see nothing - but he could see something, slowly. He didn’t know what it was, but his eyes could still detect it. He wasn’t used to this speed, but obviously his body was, and his body was telling him to move -faster and faster, faster and faster- to block or to parry, but all this had happened within a very short amount of time - within a flash - within a split second, and he was not able to realize that what his mind was trying to tell him was that his body needed to move far beyond the capacity that it could even comprehend; possible.

Ah, Pedro realized, so there was a speed that was still beyond this body that still needed training to be worked upon. That was his one and single thought, after millions and millions of single thoughts before he finally moved, sliding back in retaliation to this force. It was almost an overwhelming force, almost as if there were millions upon millions upon millions of commands that were executed at once within the span of only one command span interval of time.

By the time he had slipped back, he only could realize what had happened when it did. From all around him, everything burst out. He couldn’t really comprehend it in the beginning, but it made sense as everything just flew about him, spreading all over, cascading around him, flying like cherry blossoms, exploding from every angle, dissipating within every single second. At first, Pedro believed that he was dead, that perhaps everything around him was his own body. However, when he felt the bare heat that reached Calrene’s body, his mind simply froze, and he could not believe what had just happened.

Soar had not attacked her body, he had only attacked that which was covering it

… covering… it?

Pedro’s jaw dropped. He… looked down, but forced his head back up quickly, almost blushing as he realized what this sick, perverted bastard had just done to her.

He quickly covered himself, cursing in his mind, as he saw Soar simply faced to the side with his eyes locked on DW’s very fine body. He could not believe it… he could not understand it… he was not able to comprehend it– and a part of him inside was extremely angry, at that point.

What was this - some stupid freakish anime show?! And as such, he couldn’t help but voice his opinion.

“What the hell?!” He screamed, her voice shrieking as she looked at Soar, her face completely red as she covered every single part of her body that she could with her hands, crossing her arm across her chest, bringing her hand diagonally down to cover the lower region of her body, scrunching her body up altogether so that only the most minimum of what could be seen could be seen.

The person inside was almost flabbergasted, he did not want this mother fucker to look at this girls body. He would not allow it.

Soar could see both the anger and the embarrassment on the woman’s face as she shrieked and looked at him as her body was completely bare. He only started laughing, licking the tip of his sword as he did so maniacally.

Pedro could only shake his head while inside her body, what was he going to do now, was he really going to expose her body to attack him now– ? What could she do? There were no clothes around - anywhere. He had to make it so that… he didn’t even know what to do at this point! Soar had used a very simple and stupid tricky move, how was he going to get over it now?

He breathed in and breathed out, looking at his opponent. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but he knew that when the time came and his opponent wanted to strike, he would counter and defeat him as soon as possible. But Soar did nothing of the sort. Instead, he started circling around her, very slowly, very carefully.

At every step, at every angle, DW’s body pivoted, so that he could not see more than what he was already seeing. Soar continued to just walk, an evil smile spread across his face. DW’s eyes, the beautiful woman’s eyes, were wide open, and she gave him a threatening look.

“You had better… frickin’ stop walking around, and get over here so we can finish this battle.” she told him, she yelled, she shouted!

But what was this emotion that was crossing her face? It was both anger and complete embarrassment - but there was something else too… what was it? It was almost as if the girl was afraid of her own body… as if there was something that was so tempting that she did not want to dive into herself. But why would that be? It was almost as if there was an internal battle going within her at once. Why would this be so? This curiosity, this curious thought, drove at him and he continued to watch with spectacle eyes.

Pedro… knew… that DW’s body was perfect. He did not want anybody to see it– but himself. Even an exception to that: he didn’t even want himself to look at it right now. But as he felt what he was covering within his arms, he could not help but feel extremely abashed and could not even think properly as his mind dove into thoughts of what was actually happening around him. But he could not allow this other man to be looking. Fine, maybe if he finally was able to get rid of this man, then he’d be a little bit more relaxed, but at this moment, he was unable to do anything. This man was on to Calrene’s body, holding a sword, circling around her.

He could burst out now, if he had wished, but that was way too risky, and he did not want to flash a single inch of this skin to him possible. So what could he do? There were many thoughts that entered his mind at the moment. One of the thoughts was to seduce Soar, to make him come closer to him, and then to attack him– but Soar would not be that stupid.

And plus… laugh… nevermind, the thought of not even using a sword was not even acceptable at this point– and an imagination of him using Martial Arts moves while DW was nude… only made him reject any sort of direction that that kind of plan would be going into.

He took a deep breath and thought again. Maybe he could just jump into the lava, maybe he wouldn’t die. Besides, this was a virtual world after all, and maybe that would be the best. But then again he didn’t know the rules of this system as well as he would’ve liked to, and if for some reason jumping into the lava caused his own mental death, then it wouldn’t be worth it.

Soar was now circling closer. He realized, that perhaps, as soon as Soar would begin to strike, Soar would be able to see everything - because once Soar struck, he would be forced to block, to take a stance, to move a certain way…

… How…?

… could he do it such that Soar would not see anything, and so that DW’s purity could be preserved? So many thoughts were running, racing, through his mind right then, right at that moment, trying to figure out profusely what he could do.

Before, his mind was racing in a different way, to strike in order to be on the defensive, but now his mind was thinking of a million ways of how to end this quickly - within a strike. To do so while preserving the purity of his love, in order to do so so that this man could not get what he wanted to get. It was almost like being at a standstill - he was forced into check before he had a chance to make his own very first checkmate.

What would he do…?

Time was ticking, and Soar was circling around him. His body was growing hot, and he could feel the sweat dripping down from DW’s bare back. In a way it only made him a little bit more nervous, realizing this, and he began to tell himself to stop it. He should not think about those sort of things, it would only slow down his performance. It was true, if he had ever thought about anything more than what was necessary in front of him then his mind would be split; it wouldn’t be able to focus properly, and he had to focus right now, he had to pull this off, he didn’t know why, but he had to. It was for the sake of his virtue, for the sake of his love’s virtue, for the sake of his mental peace - and that mental peace, at this very moment, was being challenged to no end.

Soar could see the woman struggling within herself, and he could only chuckle silently to himself as he switched axis and began walking the other way in a circle. He was drawing closer and closer to her in every single step, and he enjoyed every single angle, and every single second that he got, seeing her huddled up completely bare without anything. Oh his body was only charging up at every single moment with every single sort of anticipation that he saw through his eyes. His body only proved to get more and more excited. The excitement, and the anticipation, to see this woman block his very strike and begin to move in order to protect herself, completely bare, caught hold of his imagination and drove him wild.

Pedro then squinted, realizing that with every step, that this monster… was becoming more and more confident– while he, himself, was only becoming more nervous and thinking too much. He realized that there was probably nothing more to think about, he just had to do something. Her mind was quick, he knew that she could move, perhaps there were certain angles she could take, certain moves that she could make, that would cause him not to see her completely – YES – that was true. He automatically imagined a dozen of moves he could probably pull, that could expose himself and her body enough such that Soar would see none of it all.

The trick was he had to execute these moves in succession, one after the other, while somehow being able to complete a trajectory such that he could kill Soar before he could see anything. Yes. That was the thing that he needed to do. He ran through different images across his mind, hundreds and hundreds flew through him all at once, some were provocative, but it didn’t matter to him at that point - some were provocative to him, but it only seemed to fuel his desire to make sure that Soar did not get to see those three little things that would make his day.

In a flash it occurred to him, the perfect combination to take Soar down. The only thing now was to execute it. He went through the process in his mind, anticipating the angle that Soar would try and attempt to look, the height difference, the exact positioning and angle of every move, and how fast he had to take it upon him. He had to start mostly from the side, in order to block anything he needed to start an offensive attack from a sideways angle, and from that angle he would need to block out Soar’s vision by use of being able to allow access and mobility by using a combination of angles, positioning - elbow positioning, knee positioning, hip positioning - and movement of the hair to barely block out all sight that Soar would have access to this woman’s body.

He thought of more poses, more ideas, more combinations - more and more and more - as Soar only licked his lips and started to pick up his pace and walk faster, closer to her. More and more and more began to flow through his mind, imagining it internally without any sort of abandon. Yes, from that move to that move, he could block out all sight. From that move to that move– he could move– if Soar had moved to the side - he would only move, quickly, to that other side - he would be able to move to attack, to defend, all at once if he was able to pull this off, if he was able to maintain these angles and able to create a perfect defense as well as an offense, then he would be able to do this, he knew it, but his mind had to think faster - faster - faster - faster!

Pedro pushed himself to the limit so fast that by the time that there was only ten steps away before Soar was able to attack, he had run through a million images in his mind, a million ways that he could block out the sight while being able to attack Soar, all at once. His body, surely enough and conveniently enough, knew to every single degree what specific angle and what specific move in order to make in order to make these images happen, and he was grateful for that, because his mind and his body were synched as one.

9 steps…

Yes. A few more poses were invented in his mind. A few more ways of attacks and counters…

8 steps…

Finishing blows. He had to think of a few, and he had to make sure that he could make it without Soar being able to do much anything about it.

7 steps…

He had to predict this new velocity of attack that Soar was about to create… he had to match it with his own.

6 steps…

His mind was racing now, in anticipation, in very avid and determined anticipation, looking into Soar’s eyes knowing that Soar was in anticipation as well.

5 steps…

He slowed his mind down, concentrating on nothing except being fully in the present.

4 steps…

…peace …

3 steps…

Soar looked at the eyes of the woman in front of him… and he saw something embedded in them that cast off a feeling… of… invincibility...

2 steps…

A glint of fear faltered Soar’s confidence, causing him to waver ever so slightly.

1 step…

Soar faked out every single pre-notion of failure, and, fueled with the desire to see this woman’s beautiful body, pushed himself to the peak.

Zero-!

Soar burst forward and began slamming every single attack with his eyes wildly in anticipation for anything - but what he saw was beyond anything that he could imagine. For every strike that he made, this woman moved in such a way, such a flurry, such a speed, he did not even realize what he was seeing– he could not see anything at all. With every single angle and every single attack that she had blocked… there was something else, there was something there - he swung and swung and swung, faster and faster and faster going as hard as he could possibly, with all the strength and ability that he could muster - but for every single step that he even made, she had predicted it one step before him - and had flashed backwards, twirled to the side, using her hair and every single movement to block out every single image that he could throw at her.

It only took place within ten seconds and he had struck more than a hundred or a hundred fifty times, but throughout all those times he could not get a single glance of anything - and as every strike he landed struck, and he realized he could not see anything - a fear and an amazement and an unbelievability in his mind struck him with an immense paralysis and he found himself going slower, being unable to believe it himself, because by the end of the ten seconds she had already penetrated through his complete offensive assault, and had slashed him, and had countered, slicing him at a critical point, causing his entire vision - his entire consciousness - to simply fade with one single thought alone…

“What do you mean...?” His voice sounded a tad guilty, but worn out and dry.

“The whole time we were with each other the last day… you didn’t want to play any games, you didn’t want to do anything, you didn’t even want to smile.” she said. “I tried to make things happy… I tried to make you laugh… but every time I did you just looked more sad. I… I don’t know what I did… but you’re just so different now…”

There was an audible pause on the other end of the telephone, before he answered. “… Don’t make it effect you too much, Tracy.” He told her. “It’s just that… I don’t want to get too close…”

“I can’t…” Rave’s voice was a whisper. “I can’t love you… it’d make things too sad, in the end. I can’t love someone who will die anytime… how am I supposed to save my heart for someone I’ll be with if I give it up to someone else who ends up dying… it’ll ruin my life. I can’t stay too close. It’ll just be too sad.”

Tracy realized this, but continued to push forward. “I know its unfair for you… but… but isn’t it ok if I just keep talking to you? Can’t I still be your friend.”

“Sure!” His voice attempted being friendly. “We can be friends still! But… I can’t promise you anything. I can’t guarantee you anything… I’m sorry… but I can’t.” he was now filled with guilt. “I wish I could…! I wish that I could be the one who could do that to you… but I’m not so great, Tracy! I’m not so great.” He paused, catching his breath. “Maybe I am selfish… but the more the reason you should let go of me.”

“I can’t let go… you’re my friend.” She said. “I don’t want to let go of our friendship… you were my first friend…” she told him. “Remember? We wrote all those letters, we played all those games. For three years we–”

“It… doesn’t matter.” Rave said. “What matters is that you’ll die… you’ll die Tracy! And you don’t deserve to die, you’re a sweet girl, you’re so nice! But… you’re going to die. And since you let everyone you meet know, you can’t expect people to get close to you– you can’t!”

She could feel her sides clench, she could feel her muscles tighten. She could feel the small drops of liquid start pushing through and fall down her eyes. She felt her entire body grow cold, and then hot, and then tighten up again.

“I don’t believe you…” She then muttered. “I don’t believe you–!”

“…what do you mean?”

“If you’re so intent on staying away from me… then why are you still here?”

She could hear the boy on the other end of the phone choke.

“If you’re so intent on staying away from me… then why are you trying to do this? Why are you trying to prevent this sadness. It’s not because you’re not nice, Dave, I won’t believe that! You’re not a jerk! You’re not!”

More silence.

“There is something inside me that wants to hate you right now!” She sobbed. “There’s something inside me that wants to forget about you and never talk to you again! I feel angry because you’ve been my friend since forever, encouraging me to get healed - and now you’re treating me like I’m dead already! You’re telling me to forget it because it’ll be a sad ending!”

She could hear his breath from the other side of the phone.

“But you know what– if that were true, if you really didn’t care about me, then why are you telling me all this? Why are you still here? Why are you telling me the truth, even though you know it would hurt me to tell me. Please tell me! Why do you feel guilty when you say you can’t love me! It’s because you care! You care! Don’t you?”

“Tracy… look.” Rave’s voice sounded a little worked up, but he kept his cool. “I do care about you… and I don’t want you to be hurt. I don’t want me to hurt you. But that’s why I’m saying you should detach yourself from me… look, its so easy… if you detached yourself from me, you’d be so much better.”

“Why?!”

“Because… you deserve someone who wouldn’t do this to you.”

She cried.

“Don’t cry… look, I’m serious.”

“Don’t be sweet when you talk to me, then!” she claimed, clutching the phone hard in the palm of her hand. “Why are you still talking to me then?”

“Because I want the best for you…”

“Then why…? Then why do you have to…?”

“Because I know myself… I can’t get that close. I can’t… if I did, it’d be a lie.” He paused. “Would you want it to be a lie?”

“No…” her heart collapsed in her chest practically.

“If I told you I loved you… but I couldn’t…” Rave said. “That’d be worse… so I won’t. I won’t just say it, even if it’d make you the most happiest girl in the world. I just can’t… I can’t lie to you, I just can’t. You don’t deserve-”

“You keep saying deserve.” She said. “You don’t have to! No one has to deserve anything!”

“Yeah… I know. I know.” Rave nodded, sighing. “It’s just that… I want you to be happy. That’s all.”

“Can… we still play games then?”

“Sure~” Rave sighed. “I don’t mind…”

“I… Dave…?”

“Yeah…?”

“I… don’t mind if you can’t give much…” she said with tears in her eyes, “… but… as long as you’re there, as long as you’re here… and won’t abandon me… then that’s all right.”

“I…”

“It’s all right if you can’t love me…” She said to him. “… it’s ok if you’re not able to. I… don’t mind. I just want… to be able to love you.”

“No. No… I can’t do that to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t make you love me… then you’ll never find love…”

“But everyone has already stopped talking to me. No one does! No one talks to me anymore…” she said, tearing up. “But only you… you’re still here. You’re still here… why? Why? If you don't want to stay, then...”

“Why do you always try to snap me out of it whenever I’m sad, or I’m tired, and I cry…?”

“Silly– because I care. That’s why.”

“You care… too much…”

“I… I just can’t let a girl cry.” He protested.

“David…” Tracy sighed. “You’ve put up with me… for five years…”

“I haven’t put up with you.” He told her. “I’ve been there for you. Because I wanted to. You don’t have to owe me any thanks… its nothing more than just that.”

“I… see…” Her mind went empty. She took a few breaths, calming her side-pains as much as she could bear and composing herself, “… anyways, it’s late now… I should sleep…” she tried to make her voice smile.

“Yeah…” he paused for awhile, “you… should.”

“Night, Dave.”

“Alright... good night.”

And with that she let her phone fall as the pain finally took complete hold of her.

The coldness from her sides perked sharply, causing her to spasm violently. The shock that tremored throughout her body felt icy, yet sharp to the very fine point of the cutting edge. It shook the foundations of her spirit, paralyzing her very being until her entire existence felt submerged underneath an entire ocean.

She was trapped, captivated, unable to signal for the cry of compassion. For mercy had left her, and terror reigned, the ineffable fragrance of dread personified itself as deathly spirits linked in chains.

The lines on the blanket became more pronounced as they crumpled along the shins of her legs. She looked down at them, blinking, clutching the blanket close to her breast. Thunder roared in the background, singing its deafening roar to the stars.

She closed her eyes and saw blackness... a void... something seemingly endless that could never have a start or an end; no matter how much you tried to create one. For there are no perimeters, there are none. They have vanished. Restricted from the capability that limits the mind to perceive what is the beginning and which is the end... a view of infinite emptiness.

She did not dare to see what lay beyond the void if she opened her eyes. A massive window, from their new mansion, overlooked her entire body and room, exposing all of her to the vast night sky.

Lightning flashed and crackled, spitting out of the clouds in a long distorted line, crooked beyond repair. It covered the room in white like paint for a split second, before it faded back to black.

Tracy lay huddled in the corner, not wanting to move a muscle. Her skin felt ice-cold and her stomach felt empty, moaning hopelessly for a dinner unserved. Her body was clenched tight like a fist, and yet her fists gripped tight at her sheets, barely trembling, yet trembling.

A sharp chill began from the tip of her spine and slowly grazed its way down her back. The feeling made her eyelids press down harder as she softly grit her teeth.

Sounds were whirring around outside, like high pitched screams of a chorus of demons. The glass on her window pounded, as if someone was trying to break in. The knocking was incessant, never giving way to the forces of nature. It would almost seem like it stopped, before stalking her once again.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard a loud clang from outside... something snapping off from another residence, the sound of it tumbling down the street's road.

As she lay, lightning danced it's freakish dance and turned everything around white. Both eyes were wide open now, and she could not help but stare out simply at nothing.

Her sides began to clench as she yearned for her friend now. The wind howled in defiance and her teeth began to chatter. She could feel the tips of her toes twiddling underneath the blankets, gracing the cotton of the pillow that was placed there.

She gasped as she inhaled a whisp of cold air.

That's when she grasped it: this concept of fear.

It was a mellow fear, one protected by her knowing that her house could withstand this. Yet her imagination went wild, and she could see the corner of her ceiling collapsing, the cold rain pouring in. In flowed the water with the shadow of the perpetrator that invaded the realms of her solitary.

As she entered the room, Tracy could hear the hushed sound of doctors and scientists, speaking quickly in frantic tones. Before them were various charts that showed the X-rays and M-scans of the boy’s body, sprawled over a large white board that had a backlight accenting the fine details of every speck and pixel. A heavy group was intensely carrying out analysis, and it was obvious to her that there was no one who really knew anything.

She bit her lip softly as the frustration rose in the room, and one man, who was large and heavy, flung down a clipboard of notes onto the floor and started cursing loudly. The amount of tension in the room only seemed to thin out the air, suffocating the number of people around her and leaving a dry, tired, lingering appear.

But not for her. She stood there, watching, feeling a little sorry for the angry bunch of analysts, before facing the other way and continuing to her destination. She did not belong here, this is not where she was needed. She needed to be closer– she needed to be next to him.

With almost an indifferent look on her face, she walked past them. She continued out the other side of the room and silently made her way down the corridor going at a moderate fast pace. She passed by a few doctors, but none of them questioned the young girl; the name-tag under her right collar needed no explanation from them.

She had not gone very far before she saw a man step outside the door she had set her destination on. As she approached him, she slowed her pace gradually, her face finally showing signs of concern and her composure slowly slipping.

The man looked back at her with a sad smile on his face. “Hey…”

Tracy forced a small smile. “Nice to see you again… Doctor Sk-”

“Just call me Al,” Rave’s father said, shaking his head. He then rested the palm of his hand on top of her head gently. “I’ve done what I needed… he’s fine for the moment.”

“He is?!” She looked up at him, relieved. “So then…”

He nodded. “Yes… I was able to stabilize him… but it won’t be for long.” he looked at her carefully, before releasing his hand on her. “The rest is up to you.”

She simply nodded.

“It’s been awhile… do you remember?”

“…yes…”

There was no need to go any deeper into detail. A few minutes later, as Tracy lay next to Rave on his bed in the hospital, she closed her eyes and waited for it to come…

Perhaps he was dead… there was nothing here, no light… no sound… no feel or touch… there was an infinite void, there was not even thought.

Yet… there was a softness… like a whisper, it caressed his ear… and it was calming, it was sweet… almost like music…it sailed upon the air and drifted as if weightless, a complete solace…

… this was peace…

… and just as if that peace, for a second, could be solidified, into pure reality… it did. It came in the soft tones and melodies that slipped off her gentle lips and slowly awoke him…

At first, he didn’t register the sound as music… but tears. This thought alone– the very first thought in his mind as he broke out of this universe of nothing– forced his eyes open.

He saw a ceiling… high above him, it was dark blue and cold. He blinked a few times, making sense of its existence with his mind before slowly readjusting his focus. He could then feel the dry tinge in his mouth, the soft crinkling of the fabric around him, the slight sensation he felt that reached down his fingertips as they now reanimated.

Slowly, his head adjusted, and he turned to the source of what had brought him here. At first he could see nothing but a fountain of black rising above his bed covers. He soon realized this was hair, and that someone was laying face down on his bed.

He blinked and readjusted more, seeing that it was not just someone, but the beautiful form of a girl, sprawled out, wearing a light, beige dress that could be mistaken for a night gown… no, it was a night gown… but how could…?

The figure stirred, slowly, and as she did he noticed her bare arms were soft and smooth. They slightly trembled as she moved around now, sinking into the sheets as if she were chained to them. Yet she continued singing sweetly, and while her voice was nice, her demeanor was sad, and it concerned him.

“… don’t… cry…”

That was the first thing he said. He didn’t know why, but it simply slipped out of his mouth.

As it did, if by magic, the girl stopped and rose her head. When she did, Rave couldn’t help but hang his mouth open.

There was a pause, and a small interval of silence, before he answered. “Ok.”

“Mn…”

“You know…” He stopped for a moment, before shaking his head. “I just got the weirdest feeling right now…”

“Really…? Like what?”

“Well, like… I know you somehow, even though… I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you before…”

Her heart sank, but he also touched it at the same time. She bit her lip tight, not knowing what to say, but this feeling was so intense she had to bury her head back in the bed sheets.

“A-are you okay?!” He asked, his voice worried.

“Y-yeah - it’s just… my… tonsils…” Her voice was strained now. “I just had them removed awhile ago… and… it still hurts.” her voice was cracking.

“Tonsils…?” He froze. “Then why did you sing? Isn’t that bad-? Wouldn’t that…?”

She laughed… wait– or cried? He couldn’t tell now… it was too hard to make out to be sure.

“I’m dead…” she muttered, softly to herself.

“You’re… hey- you’re not dead.” The boy claimed, sarcastically.

“I am dead…” She replied sarcastically, but still almost sincerely. “I can barely move…”

“No.” He said. “Not while I’m around. You’re not dying.”

This caused her to stop crying, or laughing, or whatever, and then she just laid there, sprawled across the sheets with her head back down, her hair spread all over. It was quiet, for a mere moment, before her voice came back again, almost too softly, “… can… you save me…?”

“Uh-?”

“…could… you save me… if I were dying…?”

He paused, for a second, before answering.

“I would.”

“But - could you?”

“I…” he thought about it. “I don’t know. I guess it would depend on what’s happening.”

“…Ah…” from a gap through her hair, he could make out a small smile, “…that’s smart…”

“…” he squinted, “…No.”

She froze. “…No?”

“I take that back– I could.”

“… How…?”

“I… just could. All it takes… is an idea.”

She didn’t answer for a long time. “Hmm… an idea…” the thought seemed to slightly shift her. Within a few seconds, she was chuckling, and this time he was very sure of it. “You’re so stupid…”

“…Huh?”

She brought her face up again, locking her eyes on his, before slowly crawling up to him. She stayed there, for a moment, looking into him with her face but only a few inches away.

He blinked, looking at her. “…What?”

She shook her head gently, then kissed him on forehead. “… Thanks…”

He blinked again. This was so weird, he couldn’t even believe this girl. “Who… are you?”

“Soo… are you saying the answer is 3.76?” She asked. Her voice sounded different on the phone, but it was still her alright.

He squinted before going over the problem again with his pencil. “Hm… well, if you bring the 3 down and you add everything together, I get the final six at the end. What do you think?”

She laughed. “Yep~! You’re right! I was just checking , I asked around, there were a lot of people who missed that in class today.” she paused. “That was a trick question… how were you able to figure it out?”

“You keep throwing me these kinds of questions.” He rolled his eyes. “What are you really trying to find?”

“Well… only how smart my competition is: Pedro De-los-San-tos.”

Pedro sighed.

“Son~! Come here! We’ve got visitors! They’re also your age!”

Good thing he was done with his homework already. He didn’t understand why there were people his age visiting this late though, it was a school day tomorrow. It didn’t make sense. Then again, the fact that he got this phone call from miss ‘DW’ about the test this late didn’t make much sense either; this was the third day since they met and she’d called him already.

“Looks like I’ve got more stuff to do.” He said back to the phone. “Great. Thanks for keeping me busy, now I can’t finish more Final Fantasy.”

“PSHh, what’s up with boys and their video games?”

“I don’t know– its fun.”

“Saving the world from fantasy monsters?”

“Hey! It makes us feel like heroes in real life.”

“Oh… is that it? And is that what you want to be?”

“Well–”

“Son! Hurry.”

“–Just whatever. I’ll see you in class tomorrow. Bye.”

“Bye!”

After a few minutes, Pedro realized apparently he wasn’t the only one with a cute little girl fawning all over him. Right in front of him, sure enough, was a pair of two other children his age, and it was obvious that the boy was feeling just about as willing as he was about taking a detour to visit someone he never even met before so late.

The girl, on the other hand, only looked happy about it. Typical. As soon as he saw her clinging on to him the way she was he was automatically reminded, regrettably, of that prying girl who renamed herself DW.

Yep. There was no doubt about it. Too bad for the both of them.

He almost felt sorry, as his new friend, David, rolled his eyes as Tracy laughed and pointed out how much she beat him in Mortal Kombat.

“Ok, here, let me show you how to do it.” He said, eager to beat her and picking Sub-Zero on the character select screen.

Two minutes later, Tracy cheered.

Pedro’s jaw dropped. He looked at David, and they both exchanged sarcastic expressions with the other.

“Never underestimate a girl!” Tracy cheered.

“My god, she’d love to see this…” Pedro thought, putting his palm to his forehead.

“You keep talking about someone.” Rave pointed out. “Who is she?”

“Someone who probably doesn’t like video games as much.” He said, making a face. “At least you’re lucky.”

Pedro shrugged. “I can’t choose a side, she already has us beat; its just about which one of us is lucky.” he thought about DW. “Yeah, you’re probably the more lucky one.”

“Nah, I’d say you are.”

Tracy took both of them by the arms and went between them, linking them all together. “Hey! I say you both are. So that’s that. Come on, let’s take a break.”

It was winner’s say. The two boys both couldn’t find it in themselves to make an objection to her, so they ended up going outside to sit at the patio. There, they talked awhile. Tracy had to leave tomorrow, and they talked more about how they met. Apparently it was in the hospital, and Tracy had been nearby due to a surgery she had to remove her tonsils. She had heard about Rave and watched over him as he was recovering from some sort of painful sickness.

It was touching. What surprised him even more was the way the two interacted. There was some sort of invisible... chemistry there, and he could tell by the way they shot back remarks at each other and the way they'd joke around so naturally. Rave was trying not to mind too much how good this girl was compatible with him, but Pedro could relate to him all too well in this respect. It almost surprised him, it was almost like watching himself from another person's point of view... and it made him realize a few things.

"I like how you call me Trace!" Tracy suddenly said, a huge smile on her face. "Who's idea was that? Was that yours?" she asked Pedro.

"Huh?" Pedro snapped out of it. "Um, yeah, I guess so."

She laughed. "That's cute– I like that nickname! Just like I like 'Dave'! I like calling David Dave!"

"Well, you can't make it any more 'crazy' than that, I think." Rave said, shrugging, before looking at Tracy and sticking out his tongue.

He had no idea.

“You asked about the girl I talked about earlier.” Pedro told Rave. “Her nickname I call her is just... out there. I just met her recently too.” he paused. “Unfortunately for me, she’s in every single one of my class periods at school, and I don’t think I’ll be getting away from her anytime soon.”

“That’s good, then!” Tracy then said. “Imagine! You have all that time together, it must be amazing! I mean - think of all the fun times you’ll have! And, ER-!”

She stopped as she saw Pedro looking at her funny. “It’s not… like that, Tracy.”

“I think what he’s trying to get at is that ‘I’m the lucky one’ which he’s been trying to convince me this whole time.”

Tracy gasped. “That’s horrible! How could you say that he’s lucky - after saying I’ll be going away!”

“In many ways, it might be better that way.” Pedro said, looking at her calmly.

“Eh?” Tracy blinked. “How?”

“Well, it’s a long distance relation, so-”

“Hey- what’s this with the word ‘relation’ here dude–!”

“Well you guys are good friends, right?” Pedro asked, raising his hands up comedically. “I can tell, it’s only been one night but it seems like you guys knew each other forever already.”

Rave stopped, before shifting his eyes to the side quickly. “Well… I’ll admit its kind of scary.”

“… tell me about it…” Pedro sighed.

“Hey!” Tracy interjected. “It’s almost like you two have something against that.”

Rave couldn’t help but laugh out a little. “No, it’s not that…”

“I can’t believe you two are arguing about how the other is more LUCKY than the other. How dumb.”

“That’s fine, that’s just how good friends start.” A voice appeared from the doorway.

Pedro looked back. “Dad!”

Pedro’s dad smiled with that scruffy Han Solo look, before walking over to meet all of them. “Hi, just call me Uncle Sonny.” He first took David’s hand.

“Hi.”

“David?”

“Yep.”

“Nice to meet you.” He then took Tracy’s hand. “And-?”

“Tracy.” Tracy smiled politely back.

“Alright Tracy–” He then looked back between the two, a little surprised. “So, are you two related? Or-”

“Oh, no! Not yet anyway-!” Tracy said, blushing furiously.

(Not yet, anyway?) Both Pedro and Rave exchanged glances with each other.

“I’m just his friend.” she said, not even looking at Rave and pointing her index finger his way.

“I can’t believe you still beat me, Sonny-” A light crack called out from the door. Rave’s dad.

“Was it a close game?” Tracy asked.

“Nah, not even.” Alex said, grinning. “You’re looking at an officially titled chess master.” he then shot a glance to Pedro’s dad. “So… how many people would leave the room whenever you’d enter a chess center again?”

“Noo.” Uncle Sonny said, shaking his head. “That was a long time ago. I’m not as good now, I still lose from time to time.” his voice was very congenial, with a hint of charisma and joking tone.

“Even so-” Alexander laughed, before ushering Tracy and Rave. “Ok kids, its time to go.”

“Ok son,” Uncle Sonny called to Pedro. “Come in.”

Pedro stood up from the bench and was starting to walk back when he looked back at Tracy. There was something sad about the way she looked…

“One sec dad-” He told him, before running up to her. “Tracy!”

“Uh..?” She turned to face him, her hands covering her face a little.

“Wait, before you go, I want to ask-”

“Yes?”

“What’s your last name? So I can remember it.”

She nodded, smiling, happy that he had wanted to remember her just in case she returned.

The soft corners of her eyelids began to tear as she clutched the sheets on her mattress and sunk her body deep into the surface, not wanting to arise to face anything ever again. Her teeth were clenched now, so tight, and her body was shaking violently, unable to cope with the colossal feeling that was now overwhelming her. She took a quick breath, once, then twice, but like a bubble, her small lungs only contracted more tightly, extracting the air from her system until she could barely squeak.

There was a ringing in her head, a manifestation of an extremity that was well beyond her capacity to cope with. It spread out along the contours of her mind, embedding itself pervasively into her consciousness like an insect burying a disease, digging itself deeper and deeper into the surface. It was a gnawing, prying feeling, one that she couldn't shake out of no matter how much she squirmed. It was so powerful, and she knew that it was one that could not escape her.

She sobbed, clenching her fists tight as she tried to scream into her pillow. A painful, distorted sound erupted from the depths of her throat, and for the first time in her life she feared destroying her vocal cords. She choked, trying to hold back, but she could feel another one coming. But she didn’t want to ruin her voice! Even so, the energy felt itself bursting out of her like lava from a volcano…

What ended up coming out, in the split last second, was a sound that was quickly converted into a pure musical tone. It rang out loud, with such magnificent strength and power, but with such a purity and brilliance that it scared even her.

From that day, she would not know what note she sang, or what tone she hit, but it redefined her very ability of singing forever. It drew out a potential within her that she had never once felt before, and when she released it this feeling of torture but almost freed her. At that split moment, she realized there was a way to let out all this pent up pain inside her. It almost seemed endless, like the floodgates of a tsunami, but she had found a small hole to let it drain out!

She opened up her throat, expanded her diaphragm, and then let it all out again, recapturing the utter pure brilliance of the tone she let out before, but this time controlling it a bit more, refining it to an even more intricate level of genius. And at that point… she felt as if she had almost hit heaven. The sound that escaped her lips was unreal, and her fragile, yet beautiful voice carried it so fully, with a subtle message and implication that expressed her pain so perfectly that it almost wanted to make her cry.

In fact, it did.

She broke down, choking in sobs as she tried to stop herself from breathing too hard. The air was leaving her lungs rapidly now, as if she couldn’t control it, like a monster completely berserk that kept going and going that she knew she could never stop. Like a rolling tide that accumulated the water before crashing down… like an avalanche that kept rolling as it kept accelerating with rapid growth… it completely overwhelmed her. This feeling, trapped inside her head, continued its journey to pierce through all her defenses, screwing itself deeper and deeper through her barriers whenever she’d put up a fight.

If she couldn’t stop it she was going to die.

She could feel her insides accelerating, she could feel her emotions taking over her, she could feel her body losing control, almost as if initiating its own self destruct mode. She could barely breathe now, and she was losing consciousness– she felt a losing battle as she continued screaming being dragged closer to death’s door, scraping desperately for something, anything, she could latch onto!

That’s when she saw him.

In her mind, he appeared before her, and that warm demeanor that his presence exuded, the number one feeling that made her love him, instantly grabbed hold of her and caught her from falling down the dark night abyss.

She cried out to him, earnestly, desperately, yearningly, a plead of help to absolve the sin of her injustices. A cry for him to save her, for him to rescue her, for him to save her from dying. She didn’t want to die! She didn’t want to!

“You’re not going to”

She could hear her voice in her memory… challenging him… asking if he could save her…

“I… will.”

In an instant, a brand new idea was conceived. With emotions permeating the brainwaves of her mind, she materialized a note that claimed divinity, interwoven from the beauty of her vocal cords and the brilliance of her imagination. The strength and the power defied normality, even the tone seemed subtly complex, with intricate elements strewn that etched every grain into a design scorned by calligraphy. Even if a picture could say a thousand words… this could never be captured by a thousand pictures… the detail was too meticulously structured, so uncontainably massive, that it could not be expressed in such a simple compressed nature.

For how could one describe a person... to his or her entirety? It was beyond saying nouns, adjectives, and verbs... it was simply found within the soul of the person. She had tried telling this to Rave when they would write letters to each other... that their very essence and their very soul was caught embedded with every single letter put forth inscribed on paper. The English language was only a tool, a means of transportation, to deliver the feelings within one's heart from one being to another. This one tool, if learned to be used effectively, and sincerely, to a high enough level, would be enough to convey the very depths of one’s own being.

And just in that nature, it was at that moment that her newfound voice became a powerful tool. She didn’t even need to think twice to know what kind of feelings were embodied in it… or the very building blocks that constructed the purity of her tone and the concept that defined its own beauty. All that she needed to know… was that whenever she needed to sing, she would only need to think…of him.

The Do Jang was lively as ever. The students, clad in their Martial Arts uniforms, sat all around the square room, watching the very middle. Within the very epicenter of the Do Jang, the very middle, stood two children. Both were blue belts, and both were about the same age.

One darker, Filipino, stood across a boy who was Caucasian, white, just slightly shorter than himself. The two assumed fighting stances and looked each other in the eyes.

Rave grinned a little, looking at his best friend. Pedro had worked so hard with this; in fact, they both had more than most of anyone else in the class. But that’s what made these sparring matches oh so fun– they got to put their skill into practical application.

“Si jang!”

The battle began. Right away the two boys charged at each other, both kicking the other with speed unparalleled by the rest of the students in the school. Pedro slid to the left right after, dodging Rave’s next kick and countering with a back-kick; the back-kick connected, sending Rave back into the air. As soon as Pedro followed up, however, Rave did an aerial spinning hook-kick, narrowly missing his friend who ducked as he landed perfectly back on the Do Jang mat.

Pedro chased after him, catching him with his skipping round-house, his fastest attack, before launching a double roundhouse right after. Rave dodged the double roundhouse barely by sliding back. Right after he launched forward and flew towards him with a jumping back-kick. Pedro shot sideways, feeling that nice gust of wind as he sailed back from a nicely timed dodge. He then went forward again kicking faster and faster. Rave blocked twice just as fast before shoving Pedro back with a push-kick and then charging himself.

As soon as Pedro got shoved back he took the momentum and slid back maintaining his balance, but as soon as Rave charged, Pedro burst forward too, closing the distance so quick that it stopped Rave from being able to an execute an effective kick. Then he launched back with a jumping back-kick of his own.

His kick caught Rave in the mid-chest area, and just as Pedro had done with his push-kick, Rave took the momentum and slid back while maintaining his balance. As soon as Pedro landed, Rave launched into the air again, this time doing a 180 back kick. Pedro slid back just in time, but Rave didn’t stop there. From his 180 back-kick he landed and took one step up, stomping onto the ground before launching up once again, this time going a full 360 aerial with a spinning hook kick.

Pedro managed to duck under before coming up strong with a very high back kick. Rave barely blocked it before sliding back from the impact. Pedro then shot forward a double step before launching into a tornado kick, starting with a roundhouse, launching with a 180 jumping roundhouse, and finishing with a spinning hook-kick.

Rave dodged the first roundhouse, slid behind Pedro as he executed his 180 jumping roundhouse, and caught Pedro by the side with a well timed roundhouse as he executed his spinning hook kick.

Pedro countered quickly, landing a hit back on Rave, before shooting forth at him with another combination. Rave dodged the second attack and countered with a quick side-kick, knocking his friend off balance. Then he launched up into the air and did a double round house.

Pedro immediately shot back, jumping up and doing a 180 aerial ax kick. It caught Rave at the front of his chest area and took its toll squarely. Even so, however, Rave would not give up. He followed up by taking the blow and launching forward to Pedro again, and in a flash, he had launched himself up into the air again, this time executing a well aimed scissor kick. This knocked Pedro back and gave Rave some room to follow up with a one-step spring into a 180 round-house, 180 back-kick, and a 360 aerial spinning hook kick.

Pedro had to switch legs on the get-go before launching back, dodging the two blows, and ducking just as the kick grazed the side of his face and nicked the tip of his head. As soon as Rave landed, he was about to counter back when the strong voice of his master ordered the match to end for the day.

“That was really crazy.” Pedro said, taking off his sparring helmet. His entire face was matted with sweat, but so was Rave’s as he followed in suit and removed his sparring helmet.

“You still got me a lot.” He said, grinning a little

“Yeah, well you–” Pedro began, shaking his head, “you were all over the place. You did a lot of jumping attacks.”

“I like escaping gravity every once in awhile.” He said, shrugging. “It may only be for a few seconds, but I feel like when I do that I’m flying.” he looked off, as another set of partners began their own sparring match. “It’s… liberating.”

“Haha… yeah.” Pedro grinned a little himself, although he didn’t really think he could make much of it. “Well, since you’re barely on the ground… even if its for a little bit, it’s almost like you’re really flying up there.”

“Yeah…” Rave sighed. “That’s why I like it. Plus, I can’t help but enjoy the extra force of gravity that I have that helps me power my attack a little.”

“You launch off gravity… defying it for awhile… and when it takes revenge it pulls you down in a force that helps you deliver you blow.” Pedro realized, slowly looking over from Rave to the sparring ring. “On top of that, you’re constantly fluctuating your position in battle, from aerial to non-aerial, although your main strength is in the air.” He paused, smiling to himself. “For me, I’m more grounded I think.”

“Too much of anything can be too bad for you though.” Rave commented. “Even for me, when I’m up in the air too long… or for you, when you stay grounded.”

“True.”

“I noticed your footwork was pretty amazing though, if anything.” Rave commented. “You can shoot to the side just like that, your ability to dodge using the ground to slide in every direction… it goes unparalleled with most of just about everyone in the entire school.”

“So you’re saying I move fast.”

“Both in attack… and defense. You can shoot forward and backwards really quickly. That’s why it was so hard to catch you.”

“Well, I’m not the only one who uses my feet to give me power.” Pedro shook his head. “Back when I countered you with my back kick, you took the momentum by launching yourself back in the air and countering me when I moved in with a mid-air back-kick.”

“Ha… that’s what I’d like to call one of my reversals~” he said. “I take one hit, I get you back harder.”

“Getting more from the trade-off, right?”

“Yeah… pretty much.”

“Smart.” Pedro tapped his finger on his knee. “It’s been about ten months since we started… and we’re only blue belts. Yet, we fight all kinds of people… even the adults.”

“They’re not too hard.”

“Well, they kick hard.”

“Yeah… well, only if you let yourself get hit.”

Pedro laughed at this. “Yeah…”

“Well… like I said, I’m the guy up, and you’re the guy down, too much of anything can be bad for you… so. We should learn from each other.”

“Ha… we already do.”

“Really?” Rave paused, tilting his head. “And why do you say that?”

“Well, because its just like you said.” Pedro paused, looking at his feet. “We both do the same things. We use our feet to enhance our fighting style. You use it for launching yourself up and defying gravity… I use it for increasing both my defense and my attack.”

“You make it sound like I’m just for show… haha, thanks.”

“No… it may seem like that.” Pedro looked up. “But by doing that you’re a bunch more spontaneous, and a bunch more unpredictable too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. At least I think so.” He laughed. “Based on how we fought just now.”

“True. True. But you’re a pain to catch, and it sucks when I try to launch at you, but you beat me to the spot.”

“Yeah. Then I stole one of your moves and did a jumping back-kick counter.” He laughed afterwards.

“Well, I stole one of your moves and shot back behind you when you launched that aerial attack of your own with that tornado kick; the one right when you ended it with your spinning hook kick.”

“It means a lot of things. All of them are pretty good.” He looked at Rave and grinned. “One - a Rave is a party full of energy, just like you said. You’re pretty full of energy yourself, if I say so myself~” he moved on. “Two - when someone ‘Raves’ about something, it means they’re praising something they love hard-core to the max. Like think of an amazing movie. People ‘Rave’ over amazing movies… but not just movies, anything amazing, spectacular, something that goes beyond their expectations… something that they just like so much. They can’t stop ‘Raving’ about it.”

“Oh, so in essence, you’re making me a verb that’s a command for people to ‘Rave’.”

“Mhm, for you… for you?” He thought back about that in question. “Hm… yeah, I guess so. Kind of how I’d be raving about your crazy aerial attacks if I weren’t better than you.” He grinned.

“Which brings me to the last definition of rave… think of a full on attack, someone who just always attacks no matter what, everywhere, every time, in a flurry, if you will. That rapid movement, that unparalleled speed, that unpredictable moment… yeah, that’s definitely a rave.” He then stopped and looked over at him. “Of course, its not like I’m not trying to say that’s you or anything.”

Rave grinned. “Right. You just did. Um… you sure you think you’re still better than me?” he shrugged. “Cause if I didn’t know any better… you kinda just went on a rave yourself.”

“Hey.” Pedro laughed. “I’m not making the name rave for me. I’m making it for you.”

“Well then… I might just take it.”

“Go for it.”

Rave looked at Pedro, eyeing him a little curiously. That’s funny… even though he said this, he could get a faint impression that he’d like the name himself. Could it be that he had thought of this name for awhile... but had never chosen it for himself for some reason? Perhaps because he had ended up agreeing with that one chick who wanted to change her name, and so he wanted to secretly as well, but he never ended up doing so? Perhaps it was his pride… but did he want it? But then again, the name ‘Rave’ was so close to ‘Dave’, his own given name, he couldn’t help but entertain the idea. Plus, it just sounded cool.

“It’s pretty unique.” Rave admitted. “But I guess I kinda like it.”

“I do too.” Pedro admitted, nodding a little. “I do too…” he then looked at Rave, and then smiled. “Rave.”

“Ha… Pedro…” He shook his head, grinning a little. “Well… if you thought I was so good that you’d call me that name… then I’m sure to take it.”

“Well… I thought you were pretty cool.”

“Oh, my bad– well, if you thought I was so cool that you’d call me that name…”

“Who… the hell… is that girl?” Evan McArthur asked his staff, as he peered forward into the transparent glass pane window.

She looked like the perfect pre-teen model. Her hair was silky smooth black, her skin was a fair healthy tan, and her facial features were just so… friendly! Her eyes were shaped so very beautifully, and her nose had that nice accented touch to it, the structure of her face was not too sharp or not too round - but the perfect median. Her eyebrows were love at first sight, and when her pupils stared into you, it gave you a warm fuzzy feeling… well, at least that’s what McArthur thought.

“Well… she goes by the stage name of Kasey McCormick.” Ian Baxton told him.

“She has a lot of potential.” Evan told them, putting a hand underneath his morning shaved chin. “Where did she get the music?”

“She made it herself, sir.”

He rose his eyebrows. “Is this her first audition?”

“Yes, it is sir…”

“Well, talent is rolling around quite young…” He squinted his eyebrows. “How old is she?”

“She’s almost 13... it’ll be her birthday this December.”

“December’s not too far around the corner… this girl has more talent than–” He paused, not wanting to put to shame the name of the most famous singer in the industry quite yet. “well… she’s definitely a taker. A gold mine, if I’d have it.”

“She said she has one exception if she gets picked in this, ’Arthur.” Ian warned him.

“Oh, is that so? And what would that be?”

“That her real identity is never looked into. She wants to separate her real life world with a potential show business world.”

“Hmm…” He took a seat comfortably, looking off to the side. “Well… that could be arranged. But I’ll have to talk to her, she needs to be aware of the consequences of things.”

Evan was well aware of how show business worked these days. This girl was quite the talent, and she had an amazing amount of potential. Aside from her amazing looks, it wasn’t the physical nature of the talent that had dragged him across the entire building into this room: it was her voice. It just so happened that her photogenic appearance had ultimately sealed the deal: he was interested in taking her into the agency and training her to be the next superstar. After all, that’s what they did to Madonna.

…

“So… Kasey McCormick, was it?” The man extended his hand to greet her. “Hello, I’m the general manager of this place, my name is Evan McArthur.”

“You know… as well as I do, that you have one hell of a talent.” Evan told her straight up, cutting straight to the chase. “In fact, you don’t even seem nervous at all, it’s almost as if you know that you have something else that the industry has never seen before.”

“Thank you.”

“I want to train you.” He said. “I want to put you into the best programs and send you around all over the world to the best places where you can get inspiration and a higher meaning of life; all to enhance the quality of your singing. But right now, I would go against putting you in the spotlight for now. You’re way too young… I’d say that you’d be a lot more ready for it when you’re at least 16. That way, we can drill you until everything is second nature to you.”

“No stage-fright… no hesitation?” She asked. “And time so I know all the ins and outs about the industry?”

“And repetition… repetition to the point where you wouldn’t feel anything if you were to get ready for a performance and stand ready for a million people.”

“I don’t think I’ll need that much repetition, Mr. McArthur.” Tracy put forward politely, her voice sweet but disagreeing. “I’m also pressed for time… three years is too long in my opinion, I want to be on stage by 15.” she looked at him seriously. “I’ll train seriously, and I’ll take as much as I can in by that time.”

She had a serious demeanor about her… even though she was just a little ways off from thirteen, she already had the wits of an intelligent business-woman. He liked that.

“That rotten son of a bitch!” Jack shouted, his determined chocolate eyes locked to the forward tritium sight of his M9 Beretta as he frantically searched for a target within the flames of the burning coolant. Another explosion rocked the room, sending debris slamming into the low ceiling above them and bringing chunks of cracked cement and steel beams down upon them in an apocalyptic storm. The air around him was acrid and thick with the bitter stench of highly specialized chemicals, and hazy with a dim green smoke that consumed all light in the room aside from the flames. His eyes were blurred with water while his nose ran from the heat, but still he searched with a desire to bring punishment to the man responsible for endangering his team.

“Jack!” Chris called out from behind a wall of flame. “We need to get out of here! This whole place is going to collapse.”

He sucked in a deep breath of sour air, ignoring his ally. “Miku!” His voice came out like a wheeze as his lungs burned from the fumes. Stifling a fit of coughs, Jack covered his face with his left hand, while still aiming with the right. “Miku, where the hell are you?!”

There was a rush of movement on Chris' side of the flames, then in a strangled Chinese accent, a female voice grunted and strained. “Hey! Over here!”

“Lei Fang? Chris, can you see her?”

“No... hold on-- Yeah! I think I found her.” There was a loud crash as the former secret agent presumably cleared away some rubble. “I've got her, Jack. She's ok, I think.”

“Where's Jahn?” Lei Fang gasped, then coughed.

“Get her out of here,” Jack ordered. “I'll look for Lee.”

“No need to tell me twice. I'll meet you outside.”

“Bù!” Lei Fang erupted. “Wo yào xúnzhao ta!”

“Stop fighting! It's all going to be fine.”

Jack ignored the bickering from the two of them as they made their way out of the hellish room that was still shuddering from small detonations. “Lee! C'mon man, answer me!”

Only the crackling flames dared reply.

Kicking past some rubble with his boot, Jack jumped through a small wall of flame, patting out a small fire on his sleeve as he did so. “Hey! Jahn Lee! I know you're still alive in here.”

There was a light dragging sound followed by a loud crash and some coughing. Jack quickly faced the sound and brought the M9 to bear down on its source. As the smoke cleared from his target however, Jack lowered his weapon and returned it to its holster. He knelt down to clear some small chunks of ceiling from the back of the sturdy Chinese man, then reached for his hand as Lee broke out into a series of coughs. “Can you walk?”

“No problem,” Lee said sharply, as if insulted Jack would think he could be harmed by such an event. “Where are others?”

“They headed outside. Chris and Lei Fang are ok.”

“Good,” Lee grunted. “Here, I save your sister.”

Jack's eyes widened a moment, then became narrow with anger. Not anger at Lee, but anger at himself for not thinking of Victoria sooner. His dad would've kicked his ass over this, for sure. He knelt down over the unconscious form of Victoria and picked her up, holding her close to his chest as he followed Lee towards the large blast doors that led to the Aether Core. Once outside, Jack didn't even pause to observe the room they had taken refuge in, his only concern was who had made it out. He wiped the water from his eyes and looked around.

Chris was kneeling over Lei Fang who was lying on her back about ten feet away from the doors. She didn't look injured, only exhausted and he suspected all she needed to do was catch her breath. Jahn Lee quickly walked over to them to crouch next to her as well, examining her closely upon his arrival. Jack put Victoria on the ground next to Lei Fang and checked her pulse, which was still strong and angry, just like it should be. There was a trickle of blood on her forehead, but other than that, she seemed ok. However, nowhere to be seen was Miku, or his counterpart.

Again drawing his weapon, Jack turned to Chris, holding the Beretta calmly at his side. “Have you seen Miku?”

“No, I thought she was with you.”

Jack looked back towards the coolant reactors as another boom rocked the room, causing yet another collapse in the back where they had entered from before. “I'm going back for her. If those soldiers show up that were chasing us, seal me inside the reactor room and I'll draw them off.”

“That's suicide!”

“It's the only way we can keep them out of the Core. We need to maintain control of this room. If you have to close the doors, try to tap into that comm relay we were looking for. You can use it to distract them, or lead them off. Your best bet after that is to destroy their comms and try to make your way to the Enforcer command center. If you take it out, I'm pretty sure they'll shut down until CYPHER rigs together another way of relaying orders.”

Chris stood up, an angry look plastered on his face. “Don't talk like you're not walking back out through that door. We need you.”

“So does Miku. Now, I can't waste any more time. Those soldiers will be here any second.”

Chris reached out for Jack's shoulder, but the man had already slipped back into the flames. “Godspeed, Wallace.”

----------

He charged through the wall of flames and back into the deathly abyss, but as soon as his boots found solid ground, he was forced to roll forward to avoid a section of ceiling as it came down to crush him under its mighty girth. Coming out of the somersault, Jack jumped to his feet and spun his torso to the right to avoid impaling himself on an electrical conduit that had broken free of one of the coolant pumps, yet to keep himself from losing balance, he grabbed the conduit with his left hand as he moved past it and stabilized his movement. With a sigh, he raised his shirt to cover his mouth, readying his weapon as he did so.

“Miku! Answer me, damn it!”

He stumbled through the wreckage, turning over piles of rubble as he cleared the room. He cared not of the burns on his hands from grabbing the scorched metal, or the fact that his lungs were on fire from the harsh green smoke, he only sought to find Miku, damned be the consequences. However, about five minutes into his perilous search, the alarming sound of heavy footsteps drew his attention.

Enforcers. Followed by the four M.A. Soldiers that had been hunting his team.

Jack doubled his efforts, diligently hulking his way through mountains of debris, constantly calling her name and growing ever angrier at her lack of response.

“Godammit! Jessica, you better answer me right now! Where the hell are you!?”

Again no response. Jack kicked over a metal circuit breaker housing and fell to his knees. He might have to come to terms with the fact that she could be dead. Bringing his hands to his head he ripped at his thick brown hair and cringed, the thought of Miku burning under a pile of concrete too much for his mind to process. His M9 clattered to the floor as his hold on it faltered, the image of Miku's sparkling beautiful eyes becoming lifeless in his mind.

No! She wasn't dead. He hadn't found a body. He needed evidence!

Reaching for the M9 once more, Jack climbed to his feet. He could hear the soldiers getting closer, and he might have only seconds to spare. He again scanned the room for any sign of life, but found nothing. The rubble was piling up too high and... wait...

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it, the scarred AR-15 Miku had been wielding since this infiltration began, yet there was no sign of her body. He clamored over to where the firearm lie in the dust, picking it up and using the stock of the weapon to shovel away at the debris until he was striking at the solid ground beneath.

She wasn't here. But where could she have gone? Did she make it outside when he wasn't looking? Did his counterpart take her hostage? Or maybe she fled in the opposite exit, the one they had used to enter the room before the explosions had shattered it?

“There's the target!” A gruff voice shouted out.

“Oh, shit,” Jack spat, bringing the rifle to bear on the entrance where the soldiers stood, then aiming at the brittle ceiling above it. He then let loose with a barrage of bullets using all the remaining rounds in the rifle's magazine, bringing large sections of the ceiling down on the soldiers. Then, he quickly darted for the door leading to the Aether Core, where Chris was standing with his pistol, shooting blindly into the fiery hell to give Jack a clean exit.

Almost perfectly timed as Jack dove out of the coolant room, a final gargantuan detonation rocked the room to its very foundations, causing it to collapse on itself and sealing the Aether Core off from the pursuing soldiers, for now anyway.

Jack stood up quickly and holstered his Beretta, then slung the rifle over his shoulder. “You idiot! I told you to seal off the room.”

“And I told you that we needed you. Don't go throwing your life away, Jack. This is an important job we have. The Enforcers need to be stopped if we are going to help the others.”

Jack glared at Chris for a second, but then shook his head. “Yeah... ok. I guess you're right. Did she come out while I was in there?”

“Miku? No, sorry.”

“I didn't think so. There was no body, but I found her weapon.” Jack tapped on the side of the rifle with his open palm.

“We'll find her,” Chris said, his voice steady and his icy blue eyes confident. “If CYPHER has her, we'll be one step ahead. We have their comms figured out. It'll be just like Serbia all over again. All we need to do is listen to their chatter.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at the man, then remembered. “Oh, yeah, that mission you were telling me about.” he paused, dusting himself off. “Ok, well we can't waste a lot of time here. I need to check on Victoria. You keep tracing those fiber optic cables until you find the communications hub.”

Chris nodded, “Piece of cake.”

However, as Jack walked away to attend to his sister, Chris finally got a good look at the room they were in; a room so vast it was almost like being outside again. And in the center, the mighty pillar of technological wonder towered over him, like a god leering down at a speck of dust. Words could not even describe what he felt as he gazed upon this wonder of the modern world. Giant mirrors, massive magnetic superstructures, and vein-like pipes and wires all suspended from an intricate series of platforms and rails. It was magnificent, but also frightening.

“Chris, we'll worry about the Core later,” Jack's voice called out to him. “For now, trace those cables.”

“R-right, yeah, I knew that. No problem...” he sighed, tracing over all the multitudes of wires and cables that ran throughout the room. “Just like finding a needle in a haystack.”

Meanwhile, as Jahn Lee was tending to Lei Fang, Jack knelt over his sister. He took her hands into his own, noticing immediately that her breathing had gotten much stronger since he had initially pulled her out. “Hey, Tori. Wake up.”

There was a mumble as his sister's lips stirred for a moment. Jack released her hands and gently slapped her cheeks. “Tori!”

“Ugh.... What the hell... was that?”

Jack leaned back from her and fought the urge to grin. “You're ok, right? No broken bones or anything?”

Slowly, she sat up and brought her hands to her face. “No... I don't think so. Just a little.... Hey! What the hell, Jack? Get away from me!”

Jack stood up slowly and exhaled a deep breath. “Guess you didn't suffer any brain damage either. Get up, Tori. We have a lot of work to do.” He offered her his hand.

Reluctantly, she took it and pulled herself up. “I hate it when you call me that.”

Jack grinned a little at her hateful expression, for the moment glad she hadn't been hurt. “I know.”

He could feel a slight chill as his foot glossed over the cold, hard, concrete tiles of the entrance of the church as he went inside. The air was cool here, yet it was clear, a refreshing taste to the senses as he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

For all he knew, the church was vacant. At this early hour, the world still seemed to be in a state of hibernation, frozen to all aspects of life in the wee hours of morning. Yet, the church was still open to all those who sought refuge through it, and as such, its doors were still welcome to a slumbering populace.

Rave unwrapped his wool jacket as he made his way to the holy fountain, a small structure located in the middle of the lobby of the church that comprised of a stone pillar standing four feet tall, cascading a miniature waterfall of holy water. He propped his jacket between his elbow as he dipped his left hand into the inlet of water, drenching the tips of his fingers before making the sign of the cross on his forehead.

He hadn’t come here for any specific reason, in fact, he had no reason to be here simply except to talk to God. He had always found God to be a very special entity, and as such, as a child he had often entertained multiple conversations with God, treating him like a dear friend and telling him everything on his mind and what he thought about things.

When he had awakened this morning, he felt like talking to God simply due to the fact that he wanted to, so he had taken a thirty minute trek to the church at around five o’ clock in the morning. It was now nearing closer to six, and the doors, as always, were open and he was allowed access into the edifice.

The glass pane door slid smoothly as he carefully pulled on it. He always felt like there was an extra weight that prevented him from opening it quickly since the door usually took a while to open, gliding smoothly and always in slow-motion before it was opened fully. Yet this was fine to him, in fact, it somehow made the door seem more special, as if the delayed time symbolized patience for good things to be coming.

Immediately he stepped into the church. The lights were dim, but it was calm here. There were two options he could take at this point… he could either make it up to the middle of the church and pray out loud, or he could escape inside the huge double glass doors that led into the sacristy. He thought for a moment, before he decided to just approach the altar, residing into the front seat pew and taking a seat.

He bent down and put down the knee rest before going forward to kneel, right where he could see the altar right in front of himself. He then rested his elbows on the pew stand, his hands pressed together and his eyes in silent meditation. He then took a deep breath, and began to talk out loud.

“Hey God… it’s been awhile.” He paused, sighing, before continuing. “There are a few things I’ve realized in my life… and I don’t know why they all happened to be, but they have. My experiences growing up… my very upbringing in and of itself… the friends I’ve made… everything.

Once I think about these things… I realize that I’ve actually been so very fortunate. Fortunate for everything. I have many skills, I’ve done many things, and I’ve been able to live really well… even though so, I wonder God… why me? Why me? Why does it seem that I’ve been blessed with so many things, and why does it seem like everything I do is so amazing compared to my other peers I know?

Sometimes… I don’t know what to think of what I have. In fact, sometimes I feel guilty as if I have a gift– as if I have something that others don’t have… and while it’s a nice feeling to have, sometimes I wonder if there’s a reason for that. If there’s some sort of purpose for me being this way. Why is it that… I’ve felt so alive…?

I feel like… I have some sort of special purpose in my life. I can’t explain how… or why, but I do. Just the fact that I’ve been able to realize a few things… the fact that I’ve been able to progress so quickly when it comes to thinking… it makes me wonder, why am I here? And why is it that you put me here, for what reason, and to do what, exactly?

I’m not completely sure what your plans are, nor do I know what will happen next in this world that I’m in that’s been created around me. However–”

He stopped; something caught his eye– almost like a twitch, or something akin to that. Immediately he looked over to the side, and his field of vision caught something that both stunned and amazed him to no end.

Across the center gap on the right hand set of pews in front of the altar knelt a beautiful black-haired girl. She was calm and very silent, but her poise was set up in the most absolute focus, her hands calmly touching together pointing straight up in prayer.

He blinked. Her figure was amazing. He didn’t need to even think twice about it, it was an instant reaction. He didn’t know her exact proportions, the height of her body, or anything that could be measured quantitatively through mathematical expressions. No. All he knew was that with the body she had sported, and the nicely, fine-fit clothes that accented her figure, she was almost… perfect.

Was she his age?

It didn’t take awhile before the girl slowly opened her eyes. Then, she looked at him.

“Hey~” she smiled warmly, but passively. “You stopped.”

He did. It took him awhile for his brain to start thinking before he could say something back to her.

“Yeah… I noticed you move.”

She blinked. “Oh- really? Ahaha, I see.”

She was really cute. But there was something about the way she held herself that made her seem also… composed, in a way. It was just the way she was kneeling, the subtle messages she gave off simply by the way she had posed her body. Somebody… this hot was in church too, at this hour? Who else would do such a thing like this–? He thought he was the only one.

“I feel stupid now…” He said, making a face and rubbing the back of his neck. “I said all of that aloud… and I thought I was alone…”

She shook her head. “That’s ok.” her smile stayed. “Actually, I thought you had a good prayer… it interested me, kind of~”

My god, she was so nice.

“Wha- noo, you’re kidding.” His strange words echoed divinely throughout the empty church, bouncing back from the walls safe-guarding the sacred enclosure of their sanctuary. “It was…”

“It was really thoughtful~” She cut into his sentence politely, smoothly, filling in the gap that he had a hard time expressing exactly.

Perhaps it was the dynamics of the room, but her voice sounded so… godly. It was a pure, clear voice, and it was so very feminine and cool… calming. The church only amplified it to make it so clear to him… the sensation was almost like… drinking an ice-cold, silky vanilla drink, it was so refreshing that you could feel it run through your body, sinking into every one of your senses, giving it a calm pleasure. Even his mind felt like it was being calmly massaged, slowly and effectively…

She was almost a symbol of perfection. Not only was her body and her face so amazingly stunning, but her voice, on top of that, caught hold of all his other senses. Sight… sound… even touch… but it was not a physical touch, more, it was a sort of spiritual touch; as if her small interaction… no– but perhaps it was a physical touch after all… because the way that she made contact with him, even from a far enough distance, effected his very body.

For sense of smell… he was too far to know for sure… and as for taste… he didn’t need to think about it, just the absolute health of her skin and the fullness of her body was enough to imply that she had an appeal that would drive most men into a stage of hunger just by looking at her.

But on top of all that… strangely enough… was this amazing personality she was displaying right in front of him here. He had been just silently watching her, for a couple of seconds, but all she did was smile politely, almost as if understanding he was still a bit embarrassed, and also surprised to find a girl like her there.

“Your personality too… seems like his…” her smile only got warmer as she looked at him. “And the way you think too… about God… and how you approach him… it’s very… soothing, to hear.” her smile changed to a small, placid one, but oh it was shining ever so bright. “It’s good to know that there are people like you out there in the world.”

“Same… to you.” Rave said, shaking his head slowly, trying to snap out of it. Um, what to say next-? “Um…”

“I think a little like you… to an extent… so it’s pretty cool.” she propped her elbows up on the pew now, looking at him with some interest. “How old are you?”

That’s what he wanted to ask her! He shook his head. “I’m thirteen.”

“Same~” her voice picked up nicely, her intonation rising a notch higher. “Just out of curiosity, what brings you here so early to church~? Is it perhaps you’re going through something troubling… or…”

“No, not really.” Rave said, shaking his head. “In fact… I just come here because I want to.” he looked around, taking in the scenery, before returning his gaze and smiling back at her, now propping his elbows up onto the pew casually too. “It’s peaceful… and it gives me time to think about things clearly, and its also where I can talk to God…”

“What do you usually talk to God about~?” She smiled in friendly curiosity.

“Well… I kind of don’t think too much about it… but now that you mention it, I just talk to him about, well, how I feel.”

“So… it’s not like you tell him about your day, or something you got frustrated about, or comment about things that happened that you feel like just letting out?”

“Well, I guess it could be like that.” Rave said, as an afterthought. “But I never really tell him I’m frustrated. I never do, actually… it’s more like, if something is bothering me, I’ll just say what’s on my mind about why it concerns me. I never really complain~”

She laughed a little. Just that small laugh perked him up.

“Aside from that though… you really don’t talk to him about things like that… you said you could, but that’s not the main thing. Do you… pray for people?”

“Yeah… sometimes… if I feel somebody needs help…”

“So that’s not your main reason either for coming…”

Rave shook his head. “Nope…”

“Hm… wow… I don’t know if I can think of anything else.” She paused. “Perhaps… you just come here to find peace…”

It looked like she hit it, Rave grinned back and nodded a little. “Yeah… that… and I guess guidance.”

“…guidance… hmm…”

“Well… I don’t know… it’s kind of like this…” He looked at her and shrugged. “Sometimes I feel that it’s so weird for me to be alive. Kind of like how I was praying about before… it feels so strange that I’m actually living sometimes… actually being able to experience everything that I do. And sometimes I wonder… why is it that I’m here…? What purpose did God have for me to just… well… be here… and, well to be honest, sometimes I feel like I’m like in the main spotlight of things. So I wonder…”

“I… think like you.” The girl confessed, a little shyly, speaking humbly too. “Although… you’re more lucky than I am.”

“Hm?” This caught his attention. “Why…?”

“Because…” she smiled sadly now at this, “You can actually believe in him…” her voice paused, and when it did, it seemed like the world stopped for him. “… I’d love to, but no matter how hard I try, I know I’ll never be able…”

Rave blinked twice. “What do you mean though… no matter how hard you try, you can’t?”

“… how can I?” she looked at him, a smart smile now crossing over her features. “It’s almost too good to be true.”

You were almost too good to be true, Rave thought to himself, Still, I’m wondering if you’re even real, if you’re being real, right now… this is just way too crazy.

“If you look at evangelical sects… they really come across like looking like a scam, even though in its true nature, its not supposed to… or so they say. Don’t you notice that…? It’s almost like a really good businessman, trying to sell you their belief…”

“So… why did you… why are you here then…?”

“To pray… because I’m curious.”

“Because you’re curious…?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “I don’t mind challenging the existence of God.”

“You just said though… you don’t believe in him.”

“This is true.” She nodded. “But that doesn’t mean that there’s a part of me that doesn’t want it to be true. Maybe it’s almost like false hope…” she laughed a little to herself. “But even I find some appeal with the Christian religion… with God… I guess you could say, if I put it more precisely.”

“So you’re saying you still want to believe… but you don’t. Why don’t you believe…?”

“Well, I guess it’s like this…” she sighed. “… even if you wanted to like something, does that mean that you’d automatically like it? Or if you wanted to do something… does it mean that you will? Chances are, you won’t. For me… I try to make it so that whatever I want to do, I do it… for everything I want to like, I like it… but to believe in the Christian religion… I’d have to find some really good reason to believe in it, if anything. That… just hasn’t come to me yet, so as much as it appeals to me, I can’t just fake myself out. So I’ll just… see, I guess.”

“Is it like… you’re trying to find someone who could actually convince you? Someone… or something…?”

“Yes… I guess so.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t do so well if it was an evangelist or something. To me, they just come across trying to be sincere, but they have their gambits…”

“Gambits…?”

“Yes… to pull people in. It’s not the real thing… I want something genuine. Someone almost… who doesn’t even want me to believe, or doesn’t even try to believe… but they just end up showing me. You know? Someone like that…”

“Yeah…”

“How do you know…” She then challenged. “That beyond this life, there isn’t just a land of complete darkness. A city of darkness… where no thought, no life, no anything, exists there?”

“Well… I would never think about that, because I always see life, things, and everything here that it’d be hard to imagine that. That’s all I see…”

“But you do admit that before you were born you don’t remember anything.”

“Yeah…”

“Then… how did you come into being?”

“Well, from my parents of course…”

“Yes, but where did you suddenly come into the picture. When did you start realizing you existed?”

“…all of a sudden.”

“From nothing.” The girl pointed out. “And now you see all of this around you. This is like your borrowed time, your borrowed life-span, before it all comes crashing down. And then… and then everything will return to nothing…”

Rave had never been in a situation so philosophically delicate so far, but being who he was, he was able to pick up a few things quickly about this girl and how she worked. Her way of thinking continued expanding, and it was somewhat similar to his. In fact, he had never touched much deeply into this subject with anyone else he talked to before, but now… now his mind was slowly opening up to these new ideas and possibilities.

“Well.” He then said, moving off the kneel stand and sitting on the pew. “Wouldn’t you think it’d be harder to believe… the other way around?”

“Hm?”

“If you lived in a state of nothingness… and you didn’t exist at all, like you said– could you believe it if somehow you experienced all of… well, this? From nothing?”

She looked at him carefully, and then got off the kneel stand and sat on her respective pew too. “I wouldn’t believe it, obviously…”

“Just like you wouldn’t believe in God… because it’d be too good to be true.” He said, closing off his sentence.

This got her. A small twitch was all it took, but he understood that his words opened her mind as well. He was even surprised at his sudden comeback, how it was so easy, how it was so natural, and how he was able to turn the tables from a situation where it seemed that this girl would be the one in the know, and he’d be the one just listening. No. In fact, he had just taken an offensive stance, and challenged her very base of reasoning with it. And so effectively too.

“What made you into being… chance?” He then asked. “If so… that was one small speck of chance that got you to where you are…”

“But that’s how it was.” She said, her shoulders now slumping. He could tell that there was doubt there, in her expression. “… just because we’re alive doesn’t mean we necessarily have a purpose. Think about all the people you’ve never read or heard about that just lived and died, think about the people you have heard and read about that did nothing but stupid things. How could you think that just because we’re here, that we have a purpose?”

“I don’t know about you…” Rave started. “But for me, I just do.”

This seemed to catch her attention.

“I feel like I’m special somehow.” He continued. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I was chosen or something. Like… maybe not everyone has a purpose, but I feel like my life is just being looked down upon. Or someone is there in the background doing all this for some reason, and I don’t know what. In any case, I feel like it’s a sort of… I dunno… glorified? Kind of purpose? I know it sounds stupid, but I just feel it, I can’t really explain.”

She looked at him, her stare completely still, before she blinked a couple of times and she spoke out herself. “To be honest… when it comes to purpose, I feel the same way. But I still can’t find myself trying to believe in anything. Well– I do try! But it’s not like I’ll end up believing anything.”

“Well, saying it like that, you’re just jinxing yourself.”

“Hm…”

“If I told you something that you’d never believe… and it ended up coming true, how is that different from you never expecting something to be true… when in fact, it already is?”

“Like what?”

“Well, like what I told you before… if you were living in a world of nothing, and that there were all these things you never knew about that were out there, but you could hardly imagine it…”

She bit her lip. “Yeah… I got your point with that one already… but I mean, like, if you were to tell me something that I’d never believe, but were true… what kind of thing would that be?”

“I don’t know… that um… well, the person you want to love you will end up loving you or something? Something impossible that you’d never end up thinking could come true?”

“Hmph… there’s only one person out there that I can think of who I’d like to love me… but I know it’ll never happen no matter what.”

“Why?”

“Because… he has another family…”

“Huh?”

“My father…” she looked up. “I was left alone with my mom and my brother… and even my mom ended up just sending us off here… to live on our own…”

“You… live on your own??”

“Yes…” She continued looking up. “I do…”

Her voice echoed sadly across the church hall.

“Well… there might still be a chance.”

“What kind of father would leave his daughter alone all these years…?” she asked him, looking up at him curiously. “And what kind of God would allow all of his people to suffer…?”

“I don’t get what you’re saying…”

“For example… there are so many people in this world who are being… well… they’re just being treated bad. Abused. Tortured. They suffer… and our nice, perfect, God is really the one who knows all about this? Yet, he allows it to happen? How about all the empty answers to the prayers that go out to him, to ask him if he could help them, but he never ends up doing so? Oh yeah, right, its God, so he’s a really busy guy– he just possibly can’t get to every single person who needs him, but that’s right! Isn’t he the oh so all powerful creator too? Well, then there’s no excuse! There’s no excuse for him at all. And it’s sickening to think that there’s such thing as a lazy God. That’s almost a scary thought, right there…”

“You’re saying if he did exist, then, he’d be lazy…”

“Yeah… I mean, if he was such a perfect and respectable entity that everyone who follows Christianity respects… then yes, that God.”

“Well.. I dunno, maybe you’ve got a point… but what happens if he did this for a reason?”

“Well… then he’s not the perfect and respectable entity who Christians should be following, should they? Because God allows some to be… what, glorified? And he lets other people live… like animals? What for, let me ask-”

“Maybe for other people to save them…”

“What’d be the point in that? He could save them himself.”

“Well, if there were no problems in this world, and everything was perfect, then there wouldn’t be any point of anything at all. How could you know if someone is good if…”

“Just make everyone good.” She then said.

“But that’s not how the world works…”

“Why not?” She challenged. “That’s the way he made it, didn’t he?”

“Yeah…”

“So if he made a world just for it to have a system where it’s fair for some people, and unfair for other people… how can you call him such a great god if you receive an existence worth nothing but trash?”

“Ugh…”

“Yeah, sure, for you, who’s privileged, you’d be more than happy to oblige with God… since he’s treated you so well. But how about the others? Have you ever thought about them? What they think? Do you really think that you should just believe in a God because it benefits just you to believe in him? Oh yeah - and how about the whole deal about heaven? That if you believe in God, you go to heaven… wow. Just wow, that’s really amazing. That just seals the deal right there, right? Because anybody who’d want to live after death would want to believe that promise in a heartbeat, right? And oh no… for the people who don’t believe? Guess what happens - they go to hell. They go to hell - simply because they don’t believe.”

“That’s not what I think.”

“Well! That’s what a lot of others do! And that’s why they want to convert you! To save you! And could you imagine how many of them would be up in my face if they heard what I was saying, right now? They’d be in an uproar… but who cares, I think that’s really a dirty trick… to claim that if you believe you get promised eternal life… and if you don’t, you get damnation.”

“That’s really not how we do things… even in this church, if you look at it, we try to talk about God, but we don’t force it. I don’t know about other sects… but as far as I’m concerned being Roman Catholic, it never ever works that way.”

“Yeah, but can you dismiss those ‘dastardly deeds’ the Roman Catholic Church has done in the past? Hm?”

“I…”

“Like prosecuting Galileo, a famous inventor and a revolutionist… one who changed the way we saw the world today. Yeah… sure, his theories proved the whole church wrong, he even changed the way very world thinks as we know it… and what happened to him? How did God treat him? Oh… that’s right, he sicked the Catholic dogs after him so he could be put under house arrest until his untimely death. Great, God, just great…”

“Look, I’m not saying my religion is better than any one else’s– I know that it’s not perfect either. But you’re missing the main point.”

“No, I actually think I’m hitting a main point here that you can’t help but realize if you look at it straight in the eye– if God does exist, he’s not the God that you think or believe in… he’s a sick man.”

Rave felt his stomach turn inside out right then.

“Tell me who else would allow such ridiculous things to happen? Is that your definition of fair?”

“Well, you know, I can’t speak for God, but I do know that there’s something you’ve been forgetting.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and I think you’re looking more in his direction, more than God’s right now.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Lucifer. The Devil.”

“Oh yeah… the devil.” The girl pshhed and rolled her eyes. “Right, so if God is so smart, and he wants everything to be good, or his way, why hasn’t he killed the devil yet? Oh… it’s only been thousands of years… and you’re telling me he can’t defeat him? Oh wait! But they say Saint Michael was the one who killed the devil… sent him to hell, right? So then why is he still here? What– God can’t get rid of an evil virus? He’s God, after all, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know… it’s never explained, but he–”

“Oh, that’s right… he can’t. He just… can’t.”

Rave grit his teeth. “Well, let me tell you something–! Just because you want to like something, does it mean you’re going to like it? Just because you want to do something, does it mean you’re going to do it? Just because you want to believe in something, does it mean that you’ll end up believing it?”

DW blinked. “What- are you talking about… he’s God…! I was talking about us as humans!”

“Well, maybe you’re getting the wrong impression of God then.”

“What– are you trying to claim here that God is more human, just like the rest of us?”

“I’m not claiming he’s more human or less human, all I’m saying is that being human, you could understand if you wanted to do something, but for some reason you ended up not being able to do it anyway.”

She grit her teeth now, her fists clenching.

“So you have no right to say God is sick, just because you don’t like how some things happened.” He pointed out. “You’re guilty of the same things… and if you say so, that means you’re admitting you’re sick too.”

“All mankind is sick though…” she laughed a little. “… from sin, right?”

“That’s beyond the point…”

“Are you saying God is infected with sin as well… or perhaps the Devil is just another metaphor for describing something else…”

“Like what…?”

“Like God’s Alter Ego…”

“Alter ego…”

“Yes, Lucifer, the devil.”

“Hm… but-”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? Why else couldn’t God kill him… if it weren’t for the fact that he’s a part of God himself.”

“Well, what if God was merciful, and he didn’t want to…”

“God being merciful? Ha… tell that to all the good men that he’s killed in war that ended up dying anyways. Why not kill Lucifer, why, does God have a soft spot for him while he doesn’t have anything for all the other good people of this world? Sick. That’s just… sick.”

“Well, they did say he was one of the best, the brightest, an arc Angel…”

“This is just so weird and bizarre for me it’s already making me not believe anything… come on.” She sighed. “But just to entertain this idea, and to keep going on about it, even if all this were true, that’d prove two things to me… one: God is soft, and two: God is stupid.”

“God has a commandment… the first one, not to say his name in vain… and it makes me cringe every time you do that.”

“Ha… and isn’t that the exact opposite of what our country was made of? Freedom of speech, religion, and everything? I must say this system has worked pretty well so far… but why does religion think otherwise?”

“Agh…”

“I can see errors in the Catholic religion… I can see errors in every religion, actually, it’s not like I have a bone to pick just with Christianity… but really… if God is perfect, is that how perfect you can really get?”

“Uh?”

“I can’t believe that… it’s just… so far from it. It’s not even close to perfect…”

“How would you know that…?”

“Because…” she shook her head. “If I were God… I’d have already thought of a thousand better ways of how to do it.”

Rave bit his lower lip.

“And I don’t even need to prove it to you… you just know there are certain things that just don’t seem right. You just never challenge it… for example, what kind of one-sided relationship do you want with God if you never see him answer you for all the prayers you ever say out to him? And also… he lays down rules that are just asking to be broken. He really set himself up for failure in that one. Don’t lie? Respect your mother and father? Always keep holy on the Sabbath? Don’t have other gods or idols instead of me? Wow, talk about major fail.”

“All you do is criticize.” Rave said. “You won’t even give me a chance to speak… I don’t know if you’d be a better God simply because you’re just way too emotional.” he stood up and started to head over to the sacristy. “I’m going to take a quick break, I’ll come out and talk to you after.”

“Fine…” she said, shrugging. “I hate to be blunt, but like I said… I don’t mind challenging God.” she paused. “I’m sorry if that hurt.”

When he finally looked back to go out, he was surprised to see her just about to open the glass door to enter.

“Oh-” he blinked as he stood up.

“Hey…” She made an embarrassed face as she opened the door. “I want to say something… I’m sorry.”

“…sorry? But…”

“Well, I get all riled up sometimes, and I’ll go on rants and speak my mind… almost like I’m venting - a good friend of mine says… and sometimes I don’t realize that some of the things I say or think can really effect people a lot…”

Rave shook his head. “No… it’s not that. I mean, I could see where you were coming from, actually… and it made me think about things too… kind of.”

“I’m sorry…”

“No, no, it’s ok.” He shook his head. “Although… I have an answer to what you were thinking about.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yes… I know it might seem like I’m being defensive, or protective, but-”

“No. By all means… I was attacking your religion in the first place, so go ahead.”

“Ok.” He nodded. “Well… I just think of it like this way…”

The girl walked in and sat on a nearby chair within the sacristy. She was on the left side to him and to the right facing the altar. He took a seat on the other side. They were much closer now to each other, and he could tell she was pretty tall, she was actually exactly the same height. Of course, it didn’t bother him too much in any case, after all, he was almost a year younger than most people his age since he was born late December.

“Hmm… so you were about to say you were thinking about it a certain way–” The girl reminded him.

“Well… yeah…” Rave shook his head, trying to kind of think of a way to present all this in a way that didn’t seem over the top defensive. But then again… he knew he had a talk somewhere about that if he tried too hard to manipulate a scenario, it would never really end up being that way… more like forced, once he thought about it. So he decided to just relax and just say what was on his mind.

“I think that he does all this on purpose… to make the world imperfect so that it is perfect.”

“Hm?” This idea perked her.

“Yeah… the thing about it is that the world is not perfect… the people are not perfect… in fact, we are so far beyond perfect and even the way things work are not perfect. But once you think about it… isn’t that a good thing?”

“How so?”

“Because… it allows room for growth.” He paused. “Well, it’s not just growth, but progression. You get to see people evolve, see things function in order to find a way to bring about something better every time. It’s almost like saying that there is no such thing as perfection, because you can just keep getting better at it.”

“The question here that I guess I was trying to get at was… if we worship a ‘perfect’ God, then why doesn’t he make the world that he has also perfect? I mean… isn’t the world just a reflection of God, himself, if he created it? Just like how something I made would reflect how I am?”

“That’s true… and here’s another thing I thought of… what defines perfection?” He looked at her carefully. “How do you even know what’s perfect yourself? You might not know it, even though there’s a lot of things that try to define it. But… how do you know? It’s not as simple as getting an A+ on a test or something. And plus… isn’t perfection something relative? Like time? Of course everybody has their own idea of perfection, so no matter how perfect you try to be its not like you’ll be fully perfect in the eyes of everyone, anyway.”

“Well… I think the more people who think you’re great, the more closer to perfection you actually come to.” She pointed out. “Otherwise, why else would so many people be drawn to you?”

“That’s true… the more that you’re liked, the more ‘perfect’ you become in their eyes. But there’s always people out there who won’t agree with you, no matter how hard you try to be. What do you think about that? And also the fact that some people will think you’re perfect… no matter how many times you mess up.”

“Is that some sort of excuse to back up how…” she paused, realizing she was starting to get heated up again with this topic. Perhaps it was because God was a man… and this woman clearly wasn’t fond of her father… there was a strong sense of indignation evident in her feelings towards this… but Rave tried to see it from her perspective and let her know it was all right. He looked at her now, with eyes that were calm and unalarmed, almost as if he was expecting something.

“… Is that some sort of excuse to back up… how wrong some things are?” He answered the question for her, and then shook his head. “No, I don’t think there’s anything that can excuse the evils in the world. I don’t like it… and deep inside, I don’t think God likes it too. But certain things probably just have to be done. That’s… just the way things are. We don’t know why, but that’s how it has to be.”

“You never question authority, then? Do you just blindly listen… without ever challenging it?” She paused. “Perhaps you are a bit like him…”

“It’s not that I don’t challenge it.” Rave said, looking right back at her, seriously. “It’s just that I can play devil’s advocate to consider what you believe, and challenge you. Besides… I can’t challenge God face to face right now, but I could definitely challenge you.”

“Hmph~”

“And who knows if God didn’t put us here, so that he could challenge us himself?”

“So you’re saying, by having us talk together… he is challenging just both of us…”

Rave shrugged. “Killing two birds with one stone…”

She laughed at this. “Wow, if we’re the two birds then God god really must want us screwed…”

“Nah… I wouldn’t say I’m that screwed~” He shrugged again, smiling. “I’m actually enjoying talking to someone as thoughtful as you. I mean, despite our differences, I really respect the fact that you’re bold enough to challenge something that’s followed by so much people, almost everyone-”

“Not almost everyone-” She pointed out quickly. “But I guess the majority of people in this culture-”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

“Yeah…” she paused, then smiled. “Ahh… I see, so you’re saying this is almost like God’s answer to my challenge… you.”

Rave shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind saying I am~”

“Ha…” she smiled slowly, the thought entertaining her mind. “If so, God is one funny fellow…”

“Ha… that’s the first good thing I’ve heard you say about him this entire day.” Rave told her. “Perhaps I’m doing my job, the right way then.”

This automatically made her in defense mode. “Not really, the word ‘funny’ doesn’t always mean its something good.”

“Nope~” he shook his head, closing his eyes. “But the way you said it… told me all that I needed.”

“Ha… you are an interesting challenge, there’s no doubt about it.” She could tell there was something deep about how this seemingly normal boy talked, how he held his conversations. “So go ahead, be the spokesman for God… if that’s the way that he plans on talking to me. What else do you want to say, to make me actually come to believe him?”

“Don’t get me wrong… I don’t want you to come to actually believe him.” Rave shook his head. “I think you’d have to end up doing that for yourself. Besides, it’s not real if it’s forced. And what a more sorry case it would be, if somehow you were coerced or threatened to believe in something, and just because of that, or because of some sort of gambit, or some sort of trick somebody pulled, that you’d believe it.”

The girl studied him closely. “And how do I know this isn’t a gambit in and of itself?”

“Because I’m telling you right now, it’s sad if you ended up believing it just because of that.” He looked at her carefully. “Being someone who truly believes in what I do, I think it’d be a crime to let someone believe against their will. And also…” he paused, just looking at her. “You said you wanted to believe… so I believe… if you really want to believe… you’ll be able to find a way how to yourself, you just don’t know it.”

“Ha… even if it seems so impossibly real?”

“Yeah… even if it seems so impossibly real.”

“And wouldn’t it be interesting… if God really did send you to me because he wanted to answer my challenge…”

“Maybe he didn’t even end up setting it up so it could be even that… but it just ended up being that way simply because you asked for it.”

“Hmm… that brings me to a saying I’ve heard, that I wonder is true… they say that God is in everything, and in everyone, that you meet. So in essence, when you interact with someone, you’re also interacting with God.”

“It’s possible.” Rave said. “Well, if he created all of us, he’s probably also inside each and every one of us.”

“That’d be bizarre though.” She said. “Because there’s so many people with different personalities. How could they all be the same guy?”

“I don’t know… but it’s not like its not impossible.” Rave shrugged. “They say that quote a lot too, in the bible.”

“That God is in you… but then you’re a part of me.” She said.

“That’d be pretty cool.”

“Haha, not really, I like being myself, thank you~” She said this jokingly, but smiled. “But thanks for the complement.”

“Well yeah, it’d be bad if we each didn’t have our individuality.” Rave grinned a little. “Still though, it’s a pretty interesting thought.”

“Yep~” she nodded, that same nice smile now tracing itself on her lips. “It is.”

They were silent for a moment, just looking at the sacristy for awhile.

“There… so you finally got to say your point.” She then said, nodding. “It’s funny, but… you also gave me some things to think about.”

“… Haha, really?” He looked at her. “I don’t know, you seemed so uptight about the way you thought about things that… well, I didn’t know if what I would say would actually make you think differently about things either way.”

“Well, I still believe what I believe…” She said, “… just like you probably still believe what you believe, despite the things that I said… but just like you, there were some thoughts here that just make you think. It’s really not that one-sided, once you think about it.”

“Haha, yeah… well, if you get two great thinkers who both are open and want to find an answer and they talk about things… as long as they can acknowledge the others good points, most likely they’ll come to a new way of just… understanding things, I guess.”

“Yeah… well, this was good.” She nodded. “Are you from around here?”

“Yeah, I live in Rossmoor, actually.”

“Oh! So did you go to Oak? Because I haven’t seen you in my Middle School ever.”

“Yeah, I did, actually.” Rave said, nodding.

“Well… if you’re my age, then next year you’re going to High School… probably the same High School as me.”

“Yeah, perhaps~” Rave was a little excited at this, she seemed like such a cool girl. Plus, she was a deep thinker as well, albeit a little pessimistic it seemed to him. “Los Al High, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right~” She then extended her hand to him. “What’s your name…?”

“Oh~” He grinned at this. “Well, my friends call me Rave.”

“Rave, huh?” She grinned peculiarly at this. “Really… is that… a name you came up for yourself?”

“Hm… nah, not really… a good friend came up with it for me…”

“Oh.” There was a small tinge of disappointment in her voice. “That’d be cool if you had.”

“I guess it’d be pretty cool if it was my idea, but that’s all right. So, what’s your name~?” He extended his hand.

“Calrene.” She took his hand and shook it. “I made it myself~”

Calrene… the Cal sounded just like how one would say California… that was the first thing he realized as she enunciated it with her voice in a holy echo.

“Well, nice to meet you, Cal~” He smiled.

She laughed a little too, approving his nickname, “Well… I know how I came up with my name, but yours… is so out there. How could you have possibly got it?”

“Well, it’s not too far off from my real name.” He said, with a shrug. “Dave~ David. David Skye~”

Something eerie happened right then. As Calrene was looking at him, her eyes seemed to lose all light, and for a very small instant, Rave felt a chill as he looked into what seemed to be cold, dark orbs… before life slowly returned back to them.

“Well… David Skye… or Rave… I’ve got to be going now.”

She began to stand and turn away.

“Ah - oh yeah, is there a way I can meet up with you again?”

“Maybe… I come to church sometimes, so maybe you’ll find me here.” She said.

“Whoa, chill out, bro.” Zack adjusted his sunglasses, the burnt orange glint of the evening sun reflecting off the stark black lenses. “I keep tellin' you, it's time you let go of the mess you made.”

Jack stared up at the sky with a soulful gaze while reclining in a chair beside the hotel's pool, his blue and white t-shirt loosely brushing against his tight chest from a lazy island breeze. His expression was hard, with his thick eyebrows knit together and his lips pressed tight in a frustrated, yet controlled frown. Far above him, clouds easily drifted across the tropical sky, painted orange and gold by the warm light dancing through the atmosphere around them, yet behind them it was just dark enough that the moon could be seen above, it's crescent shape a stark contrast to the abstract puffs of clouds. He drew in a deep breath of sweet ocean air, flavored with the exotic scents of all the tropical flora that the wind carried with it from the jungle, closing his eyes as he did so. But despite his surreal surroundings, he was an unhappy man, torn by the path of destruction he invariably left in his wake.

“Hey! Are you even listening?”

Jack opened one eye and focused it upon his long time friend. “You talk too much, sometimes.”

“That's what Nikki tells me,” Zack said with a light chuckle. “But we ain't talkin' about me. If you miss her so much, call her. Let her know what's up.”

Jack waved his hand through the air, as if to brush away the idea. “Forget that, man. If she knows the truth, she'll think it was her fault. I can't do that to Miku. Besides, how am I ever going to be able to put the Long Beach mess behind me if I can't keep myself distanced from it.” The former detective sat up and ran his hands through his thick spiked hair. “No, after this is all over, I'm going back to work. Myamoto and I are getting closer to narrowing down the lead on my dad's killer.”

Zack shook his head. “Then what? So what if you find the guy that took out your old man? I bet you just gonna kill him when you find him.”

“Yeah, so what? People shouldn't be allowed to just murder whoever they want! Besides, it was a professional, so there's more to the story. Dad, he was involved in something big, you know? I need to know why he put our family at risk, why he was so strict on us as kids.”

“Uh-huh, but then what?”

This caught Jack off guard. “Well... that depends on what I find. I'm sure I'll find something to justify dad's death, and make them pay for it.”

Zack smiled, his white teeth lighting up his entire face. “Shit man, you sound like that Kasumi girl.”

Jack's eyes went wide. “What?! No way! I'm nothing like her. Everything is just rainbows and bunnies to that girl. She's not like you and me.”

“When I first met her, she was on a mission, just like you. Always so serious and determined and stuff, trying to seek out justice for something that happened to her family, so she said. She kicked my ass hard in the first DOA tournament, and I'll never forget what she said to me after.”

Jack, trying not to betray his curiosity, crossed his arms and stared out at the illuminated pool waters. “Well, spit it out then.”

“I got up from the fight, sore as hell, right? I told her I wanted a rematch, that I wasn't finished yet, and she looked at me with this weird, haunted look, and said. 'Don't live to fight, fight to live.' After that, she took off running. I found out later that she ended up killing the guy DOATEC had sponsored in the tournament. Some dude they called 'Rayden' or 'Raider.'”

“You're talking about Raidou.” Jack muttered quietly. “I remember watching that fight on cable, but they never said that he died from that beating. I had forgotten it was Kasumi that had fought him. He was really... something else. DOATEC had called him the future of fighting.” Jack scoffed. “What a load of crap. What does all this have to do with me, anyway?”

“Don't live to fight, bro.” Zack said with a glimmer. “Fight to live.”

Jack thought about this as his friend stood up from his chair and continued to talk. “All you ever do is fight, like if you weren't fighting, you would just curl up and die or something. It's like, even if it ain't your business, you have to get involved or something. Take us for example. Remember when you and me first met, bro?”

Jack grinned. “You were such a dumbass. Selling bootlegged electronics and then going out and blowing all your money like it didn't matter. What did you expect was going to happen? Especially in gang territory.” He gestured out at the island around them, still grinning but with narrowed eyes. “Guess you never learned your lesson, huh?”

“Nah, that ain't the point. That night we met, those Crips were all tryin' to take my stuff, saying crap like I cheated them outta their money, and that they was going to take over my operation. But then, here you come swooping in and kicking ass until they was all running scared and stuff. Then you looked at me, kinda like you are right now, and said--”

Jack laughed. “I remember, I told you that if you were going to go bringing mobs of gangsters down on you that you should at least make sure you had someone watching your back.”

Zack nodded. “Yup, then I said that I already did. Lady Luck! Hahaha!”

Jack smiled, again staring up at the sky. “Yeah, well, after that, I guess I just couldn't let you keep doing stupid stuff without me around. It would be a shame if my new source of entertainment got killed over a cheap iPod.”

“You're missing the point of all this though,” Zack said, still smiling. “It wasn't your mess, but you jumped in to fight them anyway. You'd fight everyone, just so you don't have to come to terms with your own life. Maybe it's time, you started living, instead of fighting.”

Jack took a slow breath, absorbing the sweet air into his lungs as he did so. He looked beyond the pool in front of him, and the girls on the opposite side, being waited on by Zack's serving staff. He even looked beyond the hotel that towered over them in the background, along with a super sized ferris wheel, out towards the island as a whole. This place... it was now somewhere he never wanted to forget.

He looked over a Zack after a few seconds. “You know, you think I live to fight, but really I have a purpose to my madness.”

“Oh yeah?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah. People, all kinds of people, are afraid. They live in fear, bound by the expectations of those they call peers. Every day, people deal with things like violence, poverty, hunger, and oppression. You knew what I'm talking about too. We've both seen plenty of it, Zack. Back home, the police did nothing about the increasing gang violence, or the fact that the homeless population was skyrocketing because no one could afford to live in a nice gated neighborhood. After dad died, I was kinda just dumped in the middle of it all, and after getting my ass kicked by the world for a few years, I decided it was finally enough bullshit.”

It was Zack's turn to look up at the sky, thinking on his friend's story. “Hmm.”

Jack continued. “So, I started fighting, at first, just because I wanted to get revenge on the world. But then I ran into an old man who taught me that fighting the world was a waste of energy. If I wanted to change anything, he said I needed to keep a purpose in mind, and so I decided that I wanted to be able to be the one in charge of my own life, and no one else. So I started getting into the information dealing business, and along with it, the problems of the city also became mine. I was tired of seeing everyone so scared to stand up for themselves, so I guess I just wanted to kind of become this symbol that said, 'you can be your own master, don't be so scared.' That's why it always seems like I fight so much.”

“Hmm,” Zack rubbed at his chin. “I don't know about all that, bro. I still think you need to relax more. And, you know what helps me unwind?”

“Uh-oh, not right now, man.”

“A sparring match! Haha.”

Jack smacked his forehead. “I thought you said you were against fighting.”

“No, I just said you fight too much. Now, it's been a long time since we got a chance to duke it out. There's not many people around and this place is wide open.”

Jack stood up and took off his shirt, tossing it to the ground beside the chair, and revealing a very well maintained body that he normally kept hidden beneath his leather jacket. “Well then, let's not waste time with words.”

Zack held out his fists, and Jack bumped knuckles with him before taking a loose stance, the weight of his body poised on the balls of his feet. He raised his fists to chin level, but kept his elbows loose and his arms far enough away from his body to create the illusion of a poor guard.

Zack came at him fast, two rapid punches towards the chest that Jack quickly dodged by lightly twisting his body and jumping to the side. Yet, Zack quickly adjusted his position and kicked at the inside of Jack's knee, weakening his stance and causing him to lose balance. Then, as Zack shot forward with a powerful right cross, pounding his fist into Jack's chest, Jack absorbed the blow and grabbed his friend's forearm with both hands, pulling the man down as he fell backwards. Then, as his back hit the patio stone, he brought his legs up into Zack's abdomen, kicking outwards and throwing him to the ground behind him, not releasing Zack's arm until he felt the impact of his body hitting the ground.

Quickly, both men scrambled to their feet, eager to get the next strike in on the other. Zack kicked outwards at the information dealer, striking the man twice in the ribs before ducking down and pummeling Jack's abdomen with three rapid jabs. BlueSeeker took the strikes well, his body barely flinching at the impacts, and acting quickly before Zack could back away, he lunged forward with a hard left cross, making solid contact with Zack's leading shoulder. Then as he stumbled backwards, Jack struck twice with two left jabs, following it up with a right handed shovel hook to the gut, lifting Zack to his toes while still hunched over. Finishing the combo with quick a left-right cross attack and a powerful haymaker to the side of Zack's head.

However, as Jack wound up to deliver the haymaker, Zack brought up his arm to block the strike and countered with a very sharp left hook, stepping into Jack's stance as he did so and bringing his knee into the man's gut. Then as Jack doubled over, Zack grabbed his shoulders and repeated the quick knee strikes to the abs two more times before dumping his body to the ground at his left. Then, as Jack hit the stone, Zack brought his heel down towards the man's chest.

Jack however, had rolled onto his back almost as soon as he hit the ground, just in time to form an “x” shape block by crossing his forearms and stopping Zack's kick, then pushing the man back by pushing his leg far outside his stance. As Jack recovered his balance, Jack jumped up from the earth and rushed forward, however, this time, Zack sidestepped his rush and stuck at his friend's back, just between the shoulder blades with a hammer fist, then followed by kicking at the back of his legs several times before sweeping him to the ground once again with a low finishing kick.

Zack hopped backwards as Jack climbed to his feet, a smile plastered on his face. “Hey, where's all that fancy Judo stuff you like to use? What's with all this boxing?”

Jack grinned. “I was being nice.”

Zack rushed at his opponent, lunging with a fast kick to the torso to help close the distance between them fast. However, Jack stepped into the kick, pinching Zack's leg into the pit of his arm then locking it in with his elbow and pushing him back by plowing his shoulder into Zack's chest, staggering his balance. Quickly, Jack brought his leading leg in behind his friend's last leg, striking at the back of the knee while twisting his torso so that he could slam Zack into the stone onto his back, all in one blindingly fast throw.

Zack jumped off the ground with a quick mid-kick, which Jack parried before steeping back to gain some ground. However, Zack gave him no time to prepare as he rushed forward with a long reaching punch towards Jack's collar. Reflexively, BlueSeeker avoided the punch by rotating his torso away from the strike, but before Zack could retract his arm, Jack pulled it forward, bringing Zack in close before he ducked down and wrapped his other arm around Zack's extended bicep. Then, Jack rotated his body so that his back was against Zack's chest, pulling his arm down over his shoulder and flipping the man over his back and onto the ground at his feet with a resounding thud. Again, Jack stepped back as his partner climbed to his feet, this time a bit more slowly.

Jack bowed his head lightly out of respect and grinned. “Ok then. Guess the Judo was a little too strong for you.”

“Nah, that ain't it bro. I just didn't want to attract any more of an audience than you've already got.”

It was now that Jack realized that many of the hotel staffers had gathered around to watch the epic battle between the men, one a former DOA winner, and the other an infamous marksman with a legendary reputation. Among the staff, were some familiar faces that gave Jack pause, one of them just barely visible from behind some of the taller people. Yet he knew clearly who it was by the glint of the sunset as it reflected from her long red hair. She pushed her way forward and made a polite bow to the two men, clad in a two piece pink and black bikini with a flamingo on one of the breasts. Her long shimmering hair draped loosely around her shoulders, her bare skin both looking soft and smooth, yet underneath it, he could see that she was firm with muscle.

“That was a very good show of skill.” She then looked to Jack specifically. “I'm impressed. You have good form. It would be interesting to experience a match with you.”

Jack reached for his shirt, using it to wipe the sweat for his face. “Yeah, well, I'm not interested. I'll be starting my sift in the casino soon and--”

Zack dug his elbow into Jack's ribs. “No, I'm giving you the night off. Let Luke run security tonight. This will be interesting.”

Jack grit his teeth, glaring at Zack before looking back towards Kasumi, his face flushed. “Look, no offense, but this was just a kinda stress reliever.”

Kasumi giggled. “I promise I'll go easy on you. It'll be fun, ne?”

Jack scratched the back of his head, looking over Kasumi very carefully and taking in every detail of her being with his chocolate eyes; the exact curvature of her hips as they met with her well toned thighs, the slender and smooth appearance of her waist and abs, her narrow shoulders and the athletic tone of her arms and calves. Her face was cute and innocent, with lips like ripened cherries and a button nose. Her eyebrows were light and gave her expression an easy and loving characteristic, despite the determination that burned bright in her copper eyes. He hated her, or more precisely, he hated how much he was attracted to her.

“I won't hold back,” he said flatly.

“I wouldn't learn much about you if you did, Mr. Wallace.”

“I told you to call me, Jack.”

Kasumi smiled. “Oh, yes, that's right. So shall we spar?”

Jack swallowed his pride and made a hard expression. At least he could use this to vent a little more steam. “Ok, fine. Let's go, princess.”

Hayate’s voice seemed to snap Sara out of her transitive state. Immediately, she arched back, her neck snapping up, her eyes wide open as if she had seen some sort of horrid vision.

“Eh?!”

She looked around… to see that she had been laying on the floor all this time. Hayate, Nina, and Hayabusa stood over her, all of them a little curious as to what had happened to her.

“So um…” Nina was the first to interrupt the silence. “What happened just awhile ago again…?”

Hayate sighed and began to recap what he could remember. “Looks like the stupid one cast a spell to make us all fall asleep… and then she ended up sleeping the longest.” he snorted. “I don’t find your humor pranks all too amusing.”

“Huh… uh…?” Sara blinked a few times, her eyes readjusting itself to the light. She had been somewhere… just moments ago. Someone had told her to wake up at the very end… an old friend… but maybe that was all an illusion, because here she was now, all back in the elevator. All her teammates were now wide awake now, and some… well, more like one, namely Hayate, had a pissed off look on his face that she didn’t want to aggravate anytime soon.
“What?” He asked.

Sara shook her head. “Nn… it’s nothing…” she tried shaking her head.

“Well Hayate, wait up.” Nina said, grabbing his shoulder. “I don’t think she’d just do this as a prank of some sort. There must have been a reason… one way or another, right?”

Nina was so unused to this kind of environment… where were the things she was at home with… a nice text book and a relaxing couch to just study…? There was security there, especially knowing that she’d be acing the next test that came along… but how about in real life? She automatically thought about her teen role-model, Calrene, and how she would treat the situation.

“It doesn’t matter how much A’s you get in school that will determine how competent you are.” she remembered her mentor saying, “Taking what you learn and applying that into real life… that’s what matters the most. Learn how to learn, that’s the only good thing school is worth for.” she then looked back. “Don’t get me wrong though… it’s one of the most important things in life, but only if you’re aware of it and make use of it.”

She then turned to Sara. “Sara… please tell me, what happened?”

Sara shook her head. “I… dunno… my head… voices… I… can’t… think…”

Nina looked up at Hayate. “I don’t think–”

The elevator then began to rock. A violent jolt shot them all sideways, and the entire group felt themselves being thrown back and forth as the lights inside the elevator began to flicker on and off rapidly.

“…that’s right… the Fallen!” Sara snapped awake, almost once again, and began to scramble up to regain her balance. As soon as she did, however, she was just thrown to the side again and she made out a loud yell. She was thrown into Hayate, who grumbled before yelling at her to get off.

“IT’S not like I can HELP it!” Sara tried shouting, but she couldn’t make it out clearly enough to him. In frustration, she shot her head up, her eyes defiant. “HAYATE! I hate–!”

They were thrown at each other again, and before she knew it she felt his lips pressed up against hers. She gasped.

“UGH!!!” Hayate yelled, his eyes looking actually freaked out for once. If it weren’t for the fact she was in this situation, seeing his face now would have her laughing her head off… but this was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

The elevator rocked again, causing the pair to fall to the ground together. Desperate to try to twist away from him, Sara only succeeded in switching their positions before landing on the ground roughly. As they hit the floor, Sara found herself on top of him, lips still interlocked, and this time it was her time to scream as she noticed her body was positioned all over his.

With a sharp cry she snapped her head back, then looked down at Hayate with practically tears in her eyes.

Before Hayate and Sara could get into another compromising position, Hayate quickly stood up, regaining his balance quite defiantly, and almost shoved Sara to the other side of the elevator. Sara yelled again, but was surprised that she hit the wall relatively lightly – apparently he didn’t push her as hard as she thought. She looked back at him as he then launched upwards, destroying a square block of the elevator above with a well timed ascending back flip kick.

“…cool…” she almost thought to herself, the word leaving her lips without even realizing it.

“We’re getting out through here!” Hayate then yelled to the group.

Hayabusa and Nina nodded. Hayate then launched himself off out through the hole he made, appearing now above them with his hand outstretched.

“Give me the Skye girl’s hand first!” He shouted over to his friend. Hayabusa complied, housting Nina up towards Hayate…

The elevator shook violently again.

“Shit!” Hayate yelled, as Nina fell face first to the floor. “Again!”

He was surprised, when, all of a sudden, another hand reached out towards his.

“No, wait! Let me go up first!” Sara yelled, looking up at him.

Hayate stared at her for a second, words unable to describe what was already understood, before he made a grunt and extended his arm further. “Come up, then.”

Their hands interlocked with one another, before he pulled her up powerfully in one fluid motion. Sara felt herself practically flying through the air before landing right on top of the elevator.

“Good.” Hayate said, then looked down again. “Hayabusa, can you take her up here yourself?!”

“Yes!” Hayabusa replied, almost like a 'roger'.

Before Sara knew what was happening, Hayabusa disappeared in a flurry of leaves. The next thing she knew, he was up on the elevator with them with Nina laying down beside them.

“Uh… wha… is this some magic… trick…?” Nina looked surprised.

“Wow, why didn’t we just do that the first time?” Sara asked, looking sourly at Hayate.

“She was already in position.” Hayate answered, returning her gaze. “Don’t start complaining. I hate it when children get jealous.”

Sara’s eyes shot up. “UH?!?! What was THAT?!” She wanted to slap him at that point. “I am NOT a… a child!!”

“Whatever.” Hayate’s eyes closed into thin slits as he looked at her, his azure hair flying wildly back as the elevator continued ascending. “I’ve had enough of this elevator, it’s time to make our departure.”

Sara clenched her fists tight, hating how Hayate tried to keep looking so cool sometimes… well, maybe it wasn’t just that, it was the fact he wasn’t even trying that got all over her nerves. “F-FINE!”

“Sara… can’t you use teleportation magic as well?” Nina then asked, her head bobbing up to look up at her.

“Uh? Um… well… yeah… I guess…” she made a face and looked off to the side.

“Wow…” Hayate then replied dryly. “Why didn’t you just do that the first time?”

“W-well, I–!”

The elevator rocked again. They all grabbed hold of the top infrastructure to stop themselves from falling, but it wasn’t like they were that much safer above the elevator than they were inside.

“Sara! Quickly! We need out! NOW!” Hayate reinforced.

“Arggh! Right. Right.” Sara grumbled under her breath. “Light of beam that cuts across… send your people around the world in a toss… that which brings that which is blind… shine your light and make it mine!”

They transported to an area that was quite segregated from all the other areas, it was a completely open space that was void of all material whatsoever; but it was perfect for this congregation and regroup that the party was now having. It would only be a matter of time before some more CYPHER goons showed up. Whether they be members from the academy or soldiers from the very organization itself, they were certain that they would not be left alone for long.

Sara looked up at Hayate with teeth clenched, her lips furrowing downwards as he decided to take command and take a step forward to address the whole gang. Nina seemed to be second in command, as she stuck nearby Hayate, ready to somehow discuss certain ideas that she might have or somehow put forth some word of warning for all of them to take caution to. Sara was probably third in terms of participation with the whole group… and Hayabusa was simply just there as a perfect team player, listening to what needed to be done and doing what was necessary and expected of him.

“There’s something interesting about this whole scenario that I have just realized.” Hayate told them all. “It seems that the Fallen… or whoever these people are… like to play with our minds, their capacities are obviously suited for mental destabilization and their strength lies in their ability to manipulate that.” he then looked at Sara. “Tell me, what was that you were talking about before? You had mumbled something about the Fallen… and you were acting strangely. Moreover, you put all of us to sleep and you ended up falling asleep yourself. What exactly happened?”

Sara gulped, debating to herself whether or not she should tell all to the gang. Obviously, it would be beneficial for them to know the information that she did, but then again… if she did end up telling them then she’d be putting a lot of sensitive information of the Academy out there. Some of the Fallen were extremely noble, prestige members of society, and their powers were not only accounted for being great, but accounted for their betrayal to the society… and to the degree of what they were able to influence and change permanently within it.

So Hayate was right. The people they were dealing with were very well tuned to destroying not only things with their magical power… but they were experts in deteriorating the very stability of ones mind. One in particular… almost excelled in being able to get into one’s mind and twist it in such a way through sending over a barrage of memories and ideas that would usually twist a person beyond their limits until they broke. Even the most confident of people had their doubts it seemed… there was no one without weakness… and it was all about being able to pinpoint that weakness and exposing it all for what it was worth.

“Well… it’s obvious that you know a lot, judging by the look on your face.” Hayate said, slowly crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re probably reluctant to tell us about this… why– is there something that deals with incriminating the Academy if you say so?”

Sara blinked.

“It won’t matter either way if we’re all dead, don’t you think?” Hayate challenged. “Of course I just hate to do this~ but I’m going to remind you that that way of thinking right now is just ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous!” Nina said, butting in. “I think the reason why she thinks the way she does is because of the fact that she doesn’t think we’re going to die just yet… that she expects to survive… so because of that she doesn’t want to tell you because she’s thinking about the repercussions of telling you that information. Either that, or also that the information may not even be able to be given to us in order for us to survive.” she then looked at Hayate, before shrugging. “I don’t think having a little bit of faith and that kind of mindset is ridiculous at all…”

Hayabusa shook his head, “Regardless, knowing certain pieces of information can be a matter of life or death when we enter the battlefield…” he crossed his arms too, before looking at Sara. “Blind faith can only take you so far… I will side with Hayate on this one, it is ridiculous to be overly optimistic and take the enemy for granted…”

Sara sighed. “Yeah… good point… I guess Hayate’s right… it’d be stupid to think that we’d be all right if I just held back from telling all of you… and I don’t want to put anyone in danger, so…” she looked up. “The thing about the Fallen is that they are all extremely smart members of society. They all actually had high positions… they were smart… but they were too smart for their own good. So they revolted. They were able to see through the Academy’s system so well that they were able to get pretty far too… but if they ever got too close, the ruler, my father, would eventually put them down. I’ve even heard stories of Cidel… banishing them. I believe she’s the one who came up with the name ‘The Fallen’.”

“So the name ‘Fallen’ constitutes someone who has went against the society… who tried to change it?”

“More like… challenge it. No one has succeeded, yet, so far.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“So as you can expect… like you said, they have powers that go just beyond the general norm in terms of destruction…” she looked down. “Some of their powers are just outright crazy… scary… a part of me doesn’t want to talk about it because it’s even scary to bring up sometimes.”

“Let me guess… do their powers have to deal with control over illusions?”

Sara blinked. “In fact-! You’re right.”

Nina blinked too. “Wait! If that’s the case, then how do we know that we’re not in an illusion right now?! They could be watching over us as we talk among ourselves in this meeting.”

“Well, we need to establish some sort of reality.” Hayate reminded her, raising a finger. “Otherwise, we could get out of control and start accusing ourselves of being illusions, and then all we’d do is be fighting among each other.”

“Could it really get that bad?” Hayabusa asked Sara, a serious expression on his face.

“Well… yes, it could get to the point where they could invoke certain spells that can deceive… but… I don’t think they could make copies of ourselves or anything. Besides, we know each other so well we could just tell if someone was off at this point…”

“Yeah, like if you acted more mature than usual.” Hayate pointed out, with a smug impression and his eyes closed.

“Yeah, and if Hayate acted like a GENTLEMAN for once!” Sara shot back.

“Hmm…” Hayabusa nodded.

Nina noticed something. “That’s right! You guys must be you… Hayate being… well…” How could she put this without sounding mean. “… a little blunt… and Sara, being so over-reactive… Hayabusa being the silent standby… and me, trying to make sense of this all.”

“Well, but-!” Sara then said. “They may not have that great of control over being able to emulate the personalities of people they don’t know, however if they do end up getting into your brain then its possible! I don’t think this has happened to any one of us yet… if it did, it’d certainly put us all in a lot of risk! But… on the other hand, what I know they can do is control what we see in terms of environment.”

“Then this is obviously a mirage…” Hayate said, sounding 100% sure as he put his hands on his hips.

“Yep… I mean– huh?” Sara blinked and looked up again. “It is?!”

“CYPHER pursuits are never this calm after an outburst like that… it’s another mind trick.” Hayate said, shrugging. As he said this, as if gigantic ripples had formed, the entire room started to distort as if boulders were being dropped into the imagery like atop the surface of a pond of water.

“Get ready…” Hayabusa said.

“Ya think…?” Nina said, getting into fighting stance.

“... Stand down!” Hayate shouted, right before a bright light shot out and encompassed their vision in complete white.

The small crowd that had gathered around them formed a sort of ring, with people who worked for Zack as well as some of the girls vacationing there making up three distinct boundaries with the pool itself making up the final border. As he made his way to the center of the clearing, Jack ignored the chuckles of his longtime friend Zack, as well as the hushed murmurs of his colleagues, taking in only the soothing sounds of the ocean in the distance as it massaged the smooth white sands of the far away shoreline, letting its rhythm set the tone for his battle. The sun had almost completely set by this point, yielding its warm orange light to the coming darkness of night and allowing Zack's giant Ferris wheel to illuminate the dusk with it's bright neon gaze.

As he turned to face her, the reflections from the pool's underwater illumination gave her a slight shimmering appearance as the small ripples of light danced across her perfect skin. She took her time tying her flowing red hair behind her back into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck using a long golden ribbon, her sharp copper eyes locked onto him as she did so, as if she were looking deep inside him, trying to read his thoughts. He narrowed his eyes at her darkly as he ran his hands through his spiked chestnut brown hair, kicking up droplets of sweat as it snapped back into place behind his fingers.

Before taking his stance, he approached her, holding his arms out in front of him. “Let's bump knuckles,” his voice was softer now than it had been before. “It's a reminder to keep things friendly.”

Kasumi smiled brightly as she stepped forward and lightly tapped Jack's large hands with her own. Then, all hell broke loose. Both fighters dropped into an instinctual stance, and while Jack's was the same as before, he took note of Kasumi's very carefully. Her hands were open, and held forward directly in front of her chest while she kept her knees bent, her motions rhythmic in nature, like she was dancing to the beat of her own heart. It was interesting, and different.

Then, she rushed him, her open hands quickly became sharp, piercing daggers that struck efficiently at the bare skin of his torso coming in a combo so fast, he didn't even have time to react until he had already been hit three times. But as her fourth punch came flying in, he countered with a basic Judo throw known as yoko gake. Following the path of her impact and momentum, Jack rotated his body to the left, grabbing her outstretched forearm near her elbow and pulling her off balance while pushing her other shoulder back with his opposite hand. As she started to lean, Jack quickly swept the leg furthest from her into the backs of her shins, redirecting her momentum against her as he took her to the ground, slamming her back into the stone below them.

Quickly, he jumped to his feet and rushed her as she was standing up, striking fast with a left shovel hook to her middle abs. While she doubled over, Jack continued by putting his right hand onto her back and keeping her from straightening herself back up, pummeling her gut with two more left punches before using the hand on her back to shove her down into the ground once more. Before she could move, Jack tried to bring his heel down onto her hips, however mid way through his kick, she did something amazing.

Pushing herself up from the floor with blinding speed, Kasumi rolled her body backwards and kicked up in a reverse somersault, her feet catching him in the middle of his chest and staggering him back as she landed in a crouch, then shot forward before he could block, striking quickly with her right fist, then her left, following it by lunging forward and planting her right elbow into the muscle just below his ribs and sending him rolling back, crashing through some patio furniture as he did so. Wasting no time, she closed the gap between them with a well timed front flip, landing on his chest with both feet then jumping off almost as quickly as she had come.

Jack scrambled to his feet, coming at her in a low rush. Then as he planted his right shoulder into her gut and knocked her onto her heels, he reached down and gripped his hands around the backs of both her knees, using the momentum of her lost balance against her further by lifting both legs sharply into the air at his sides and pushing forward even more with his shoulder, again, slamming her onto her back. It was a Judo move taught to him under the name morote gari, but he always preferred the English term for it: two hand reaping.

She hit the ground hard, the wind leaving her lungs upon impact. Jack exploited this break in her concentration, reaching down and pulling her up quickly with both hands under her arms. As she fought to balance herself, Jack released her, pushing her back as he did so. Then as she staggered, he came forward with two left jabs to her collarbone, followed by a strong right cross to the upper sternum, and finishing up with a left uppercut aimed at the chin.

As his final punch came at her though, she vanished, a cloud of pink flower petals scattering in her wake. Jack's eyes went wide, absolute confusion painting his face, but before he could waste time locating his target, four sharp, knife-like strikes relentlessly pounded his back and caused him to stumble forward. She then rushed past him before he could recover, slamming her elbow into his ribs as she darted under his arm.

He fell to his knees, then to the stone floor as the blow reverberated throughout his body, yet as she turned around to rush him again, he pushed off the ground with his legs and met her halfway with a low crouch, his right fist rocketing into her lower abs as she came at him and stopping her cold in her tracks. He followed up his initial strike with a left hook towards her cheekbone, but she again vanished from his sight.

Quickly, and with the reaction speed of a wild wolf, Jack rotated his body around using the momentum created from throwing his left hook to hasten his movement, exhaling sharply as he did so. He couldn't even see if she was in front of him when he kicked out with a roundhouse kick, but to his satisfaction, he felt a hard impact as his shin met with the right side of her waist, stumbling her towards him as her rush crumbled. As she came forward, he took her leading arm with his left hand, wrapping his fingers around her small wrist and pulling her forward. Then, he wrapped his other arm around her bicep area and twisted his torso around so that his back was against her. In much the same way he had flipped Zack earlier, he pushed his hips into her lower body and pulled her arm down over his shoulder, executing a flawless ippon seoinage, or one arm shoulder throw, flipping her downwards to the--

SPLASH!!

Kasumi slammed back first into the surface of the pool with a colossal eruption of water, sinking for only a second before jumping back up to the surface. As Jack teetered over the edge of the water, she jumped up and grabbed his knees, pulling him down into the shimmering water on top of her, her musical voice almost laughing as she did so.

The world flooded for a brief moment, his vision blurry and filled with light from the underwater bulbs, as well as a flurry of movement generated by Kasumi's body. It took a few moments for him to orient himself before breaking the water's surface, his skin shimmering in the neon light from the Ferris wheel in the background. He slicked back his soaked hair from in front of his eyes as he looked at Kasumi, who was also running her hands through her hair and slicking back her bangs.

At first, both of them just stared at the other, taking in all the visual details of their opponent's body and each person standing perfectly still. Her skin was glossed with water, the shine of it accentuating every curve of her body as she breathed heavily, while most of her long red hair stuck to her back giving her a sleek aerodynamic look. His eyes were steadily locked to hers, his chocolate iris' sharp with intelligence and respect for the person before him. However, something about the way she gazed at him... seemed oddly hungry.

He noticed a rosy hue to her cheeks, but wasn't sure if it was the garish hue of the neon lights above them that made her look that way. He made his way to the edge of the pool and lifted himself out with strong arms, sitting on the waters edge and leaving his feet to dangle in the cool shimmering waters. “You really know how to fight. I have to say, I don't think I could beat you if we had to fight for real.”

She came over to where he was sitting, and he reached down to offer her his hand, easily lifting her up to the edge of the pool as she gripped his muscle hardened forearm. She took her seat next to him, sitting so close that he could almost feel the warmth of her body against his skin, even though they weren't actually touching. “I wouldn't say that, Mr.--”

Jack shot her a sharp gaze.

“Oh, sorry. Jack.” She smiled. “I think you have a lot of talent. With a lot of practice, I think you could become a very formidable opponent. The way you used my motions against me caught me by surprise and it all happened so fast. You must have had a very skilled teacher at one time.”

“Says the girl that can vanish into thin air,” Jack said with a grin. “But thanks. I think though, that if it were serious, your speed would shut me down before I could do many counters. I got lucky a few times out there.” He spiked his hair back up and leaned back to look up at the Ferris wheel. “I don't think I've ever had to fight anyone this fast before... or at least not with my bare hands.”

She smiled and bowed her head slightly. “You are very kind.”

Jack looked over at her as she also gazed up at the wheel. “Hey... uh, I feel like I need to apologize.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I've been a little hard on you this past few days, and I don't want you to think that it's because I hate you or something. It's just...”

“It's all right, Jack. I know--”

“No, you don't.” He interrupted. “You are pretty remarkable and you deserve a lot more respect than what I've been showing you. Just keep in mind that if I get on your case about something little in the future, that I'm not trying--”

She took his hand into her own with a soft, yet warm embrace and hushed him with an innocent smile, her eyes catching the light from the pool in just a perfect way so that they sparkled like gems. “It's really, ok. I like you anyway.”

His eyes widened. “Huh?”

“I think you are very interesting, Jack. I've noticed something about you, something I really like.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You say you don't treat me with enough respect, but every time I've ever had trouble with someone, you are always the first one there to see what is going on. I know you don't think I notice it when we are talking, but I can tell you want me to be happy, or at least at peace. I appreciate that... I really do.”

Jack pulled his hand out from under hers and looked down at the water, thinking of Miku. “I'm sorry.”

He didn't know it then, but he was starting to slip. He was picturing Miku's face in his mind, her sweet, yet spunky smile and brilliant green eyes staring back at him from a dark place in his memory. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes as they began to water. It's been over six months since he had looked upon her face... over half a year...

Kasumi leaned forward. “Jack?”

Then, all the sudden, on the side opposite Kasumi, Zack plopped down, slapping his bare back with an open palm as he did so. “Wow, bro, that was insane! I thought for sure she was gonna kick your ass. Guess you ain't as much of a chump as I thought, huh?”

Jack wiped his eyes and blinked a few times, forcing a laugh. “Yeah, she's something else.”

He put his hand back over hers, and sighed, his brain a mess of guilt and sorrow. His brow was scrunched together a bit, but still he tried to force a light expression of peace. He didn't know how successful he was.

She smiled up at him, tilting her head to the side as she did so. “Haha, arigatou.”

Suzuka panted as she put her hands down on her knees and took a few drawn out breaths. DW was ahead of her, thinking of her own personal agenda, while here she was, still deliberating on what was going on and the vision that she had seen not too long ago.

“I’m fine.” She lied, before straightening her back and looking up at the girl who was a few paces ahead of her. “We just have to keep going up, right?’

“Pretty much.”

“How much longer will it be?”

“I can’t say for sure, but we’ll come across something. I’m sure of it. There should be some sort of giant beanstalk that goes up there.”

“You know, I need to ask you something.” Suzuka said, as she caught up to her. “Now, I know that you’re doing a lot of this for Pedro, but what about Rave? I don’t like how you haven’t given him much of any attention. In a way, it almost seemed… mean. Cold.”

DW sighed. “I…”

— — —

“Yes… what is it about my brother?”

Light flooded the entire room, vivid and bright with tones of various colors, seeping through the stained glass in endless directions. This vision was dream-like, almost as if it were some fabricated illusion. But the truth was it was real - and somehow Suzuka was sure of that.

“Yes… what is it about my brother?” The woman asked again. “Your husband.”

“First let me say… we are about to switch our children. Hibana is now residing in the Academy… and Suzuka here is with me. It will be another five years before they switch again.”

“Is it true that… he was a main target of Renken… because of the sole reason that he was your brother?”

“Renken wanted to duplicate my power… regardless of all costs… so yes, he tried to obtain it by seizing my brother…”

“Why haven’t you told me this before?!”

“Me and my brother found it unnecessary…”

“But now that there is word that Renken’s still alive, do you not think that to be important?!” Akemi held her breath, clenching her fists. “What ended up happening? I want to know… my husband will not tell me. Was he seized?!”

The woman put her head down. “…Yes… he was.”

“And what happened?!”

“They found… he did not have the inherited DNA that I had. So therefore… he was spared.”

The Japanese woman made a sigh of relief. “So they didn’t end up ruining him in some way…”

“No. They did not… is that your concern?”

“No… it’s not just that.” Akemi grit her teeth. “My husband has warned me that Renken may be interested in duplicating your power again… and our daughters may be in danger.”

“Yes… that is possible. There is a lot of risk involved… and Renken is resourceful. He may get what he’s looking for.”

“I believe so too… unless I bring this up with you…”

“And why is that…?”

“Because…” Akemi paused, then shook her head. “But before that, I have something else, to ask about my husband.”

“And that would be…?”

“How has he felt, according to you, knowing that he is merely your brother, a small sliver in comparison to the Lady of the Gods?”

“You wish to know about my own personal opinion of my brother in terms of his feelings towards me?”

Akemi then bowed. “Yes, because I see… an unfathomable potential… in my daughter… that will not be surpassed by the other. She clearly, in all honesty, has inherited your genes…”

The woman was silent for some time. “…how do you know Hibana will not?”

“We’ve done the test. She is inferior…”

“So you’ve brought your child to me…”

“Yes.”

“She is under threat of being the target… so you came to me.”

“We must conceal this fact from everyone else, even my husband. She must be protected at all costs. That’s why I came to you to talk about it, since you’d understand.” She grit her teeth. “Surely there can be something we can do. You saved the Academy from Renken, you are a genius at stratagem and warfare. Your abstract thinking and puzzle solving skills are on a high beyond everyone else. So tell me! What can you do to save our daughter?”

“Well… the solution is predictable. It’s something obvious you could probably tell me.” The lady smiled slightly. “What do you think would have to be done?”

“...An identity cover.” Akemi answered.

“On four levels.”

“Four levels…?” Akemi tilted her head. “How could we do that?”

“That’s for me to know… and for you to trust me with.”

“Not even the girl will know?”

“No. Not even you. Not even me.”

Akemi bit down on nearly her entire bottom lip, her jaw clenched in place.

“You do not wish to let your daughter’s training to have gone to waste.”

The Japanese woman nodded. “Yes… I feel she will have forgotten what I have taught her if we undergo this process… she is still so young…”

“Then you can also leave that to me…”

“Then there is something else… that I must beckon you.”

“Oh...?”

“I cannot teach her anymore… I need her to train by you.”

“By me…?”

“I beg you.” Her mother then genuflected. “There is no more room left for me to teach her.”

The woman stopped. “What is your name?” She asked the girl.

“Suzuka.” The little girl responded, a little nervously.

“Suzuka… take a step closer.”

Suzuka did so.

“Stretch out your palm… my niece.”

— — —

Before she knew it, a blade of wind cut through all her senses, sending her back to the imperishable chill of the mountains. Suzuka fell with a sharp cry, grasping the side of her head as it began to flare in pain.

DW caught her. “You okay?” she asked.

Suzuka could only feel her chest being pounded on like a drum being struck relentlessly with heavy blows. What were these things she was seeing? Why did the air of the atmosphere there feel so moist, so cool… to the point where she could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up? She had not remembered any of these things before, yet why did they seem so very realistic to her? There was no possible way that these visions that she was seeing were true, were they? But if they were... what was.…

“What’s going on, you look like you just saw someone die!” DW said, yelling a little louder now as she shook her. “What’s up? Come on!”

Suzuka shook her head, her eyes still in a bit of a daze. “Cidel…” she whispered.

Tracy sat on the desk with her elbow propped up on it, her palm resting calmly at the side of her chin, as she looked up slightly, almost in a daze, above her. The pen was sticking out slightly from her mouth, taking its break after she had finished writing so much lyrics. She was wearing a sky blue tank top and white short shorts, and she sat on her chair with her legs crossed and her dark black hair flowing down over her shoulders and to the mid of her back.

The resort she was staying at in Greece was an amazing spectacle. She hard seen and experienced things here she felt like she would have never been able to otherwise. Such beauty…

And now, now she looked out, out the side of the window the Greece Resort and onto the shoreline. It was night outside, and the city lights were sparkling in a trail leading down to the waves below her. It compelled her, and as such she stood up and began to make her way closer to the sliding door.

She came across the handle and pulled it open, allowing the cool sea breeze to pick up her hair as she took a chilly step outside. Her muscles shivered slightly as she took a step outwards, but they adjusted to the temperature quickly, and she was able to not mind it after a few seconds.

As the winds began to blow, sweeping up her hair and throwing it into a dazzling mirage, she looked seawards with her chin slightly up. She then went to the railings and propped both elbows on top of them and lowered her face into her palms.

"The smile on your face~ it's so knowing…" she paused, the melody gradually fading like the waves that hit upon the sandy shore. "And yet I wonder…. why you're so nice…" her voice carried a small, sad tone, but with a hint of curiosity sparked in it. "I can't believe it…. but it's so true… when I always look at you…."

The music was now imaginarily playing back in her head, and she paused as she allowed the emotion begin to fill her up, to take over, and with it, her voice began to move on its own, fueled with the passion of her heart and all the strong feelings that she held precious inside.

"Perhaps it's since…. you've gone through so much pain… that you must realize how it's just like… to be that one person…. crying in the night."

She closed her eyes softly and slowly began to raise her head off her palms.

"And when you see me… when you look into my eyes…. I feel you feel me…. and everything feels so ri….iya….ight. And every time you hold me…. every time you touch, my, face…. what could be this brilliance…. this sweet courageous grace…

Her voice slowly died, before it picked up again.

"It's so black. There's nothing all around. But it doesn't really matter. Because I could feel the heart that's in your soul.

What could be this feeling? This feeling when my mind, bursts, to tears? Is it cause I know you, when you take me from my fears?

Because it's when you see me… when you look into my eyes… I feel you feel me…. and everything feels so ri…iya…ight. And every time you hold me… every time you touch, my, face… what could be this brilliance… this sweet courageous grace…

I'm home… and I can't rest, on my back. Because I know you're feeling… exactly how I do too.

"What can be this… what can be this…"

Her head fell, as she was completely exhausted. She didn't know how good those lyrics were, but she had sung them all just now through inspiration. She looked up again, at the crashing waves, her eyes dreary.

There was a forest. It was unlike anything they had ever seen. There were evergreen glades all around them, stocked upon the big wide trunks of oakwood red trees, the hugest of them all within the country. Sycamores, or whatever they were called, onces that Nina had heard about a long time ago back when she was in elementary school.

The group now looked a little confused, even Hayabusa looked like he couldn’t really believe in anything he was seeing. She looked over to Sara, who did not seemed appalled at the greatness of this illusion, but rather, that they were in an illusion in and of itself. Hayate was right, this was beyond what many of them had wanted to even believe. But here it was… and yet again, it was messing with their minds… royally.

Voices now could be heard chuckling up upon these trees, laughing to themselves almost as if there was something very peculiar about the situation at hand. Of course, no one in their group found this funny, it was only the Fallen who had been finding everything so amusing so far, but even so, Nina found her group to be in a situation much like a group of mice that were led on by psychologists in some sort of messed up experiment base.

She looked around again… there was a wide open area before them now, the path was filled with dirt, but it was very wide, and the atmosphere was huge. There were wide gaps between the trees, and there seemed to be a pearly white fountain in the middle of the entire arena before them… spouting out a magnificent fountain of an angel dripping water from her mouth. It was oddly eerie in the sense that the way the angel was positioned… and the way the water ran down her mouth… it could easily be imagined that the water could be replaced by blood… and in that sense, the whole picture looked oddly more fitting with the nature of the Angel’s pose and everything.

“Green grass… hard soil.” Hayate almost laughed as he stomped on the dirt with his feet, not at all afraid or intimidated at the least. There was a confidence that radiated from this man that was almost unreal, almost, yet at the same time this was Hayate, he had been the one who had been guiding them this whole time. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t know what kind of predicament they would be in right now. “What say you - Fallen! Is it just me… or do you like laughing in fear of your demise!”

Well said… did he read Shakesphere? Nina shook her head, but played along. The Fallen seemed to be of noble prestige, according to Sara, so talking to them in this manner probably wasn’t far from what they were used to. Plus, she had heard Sara saying some Old English herself while she was reciting some of her spells that she had said earlier. “Oh, Fallen! Must you mock us?! Come down here, fight us fairly! Be civil! Waste not our time!”

“Huh?!” Sara looked at both of them weirdly. “Umm… what are you guys doing?”

Hayabusa then spoke up. “Evil knows not the celibacy of man.”

The whole group just stopped right then.

“… um… what?!” Sara looked at Haybusa. “Do you even know what that means?!”

“No–” And then with a yell, he flew up into the air upside down. “Arghh!”

A young woman with silver robes descended then, laughing her head off. “I thought I’d make him say something stupidly retarded with all the way you were… ” she then laughed again, twirling her finger around, and as she did so, Hayabusa rose up to her level while dangling in circles, almost as if he were attached to her finger from a set of strings.

“They… are just about as immature as you…” Hayate made a tired face at her, before turning back to his enemy. “Release him– we don’t have time for these games!”

“Oh? Is that so?” The voice came right behind him.

Hayate’s eyes widened before looking back. A teenager with long blue hair and crimson eyes looked up at him, an energy beam focused within her outstretched palm before him.

“I think we’ll play a little more~” The girl said.

“Watch out!” Sara burst forward, sliding towards the girl. “REFLECT!”

“Uh?!” An explosion wrapped around her the moment Sara had finished yelling the word. A split second after, an afterimage of a force field could be seen flickering around Hayate.

This display of fireworks only seemed to get the silver-robed girl into another fit of laughter. “Oh, Denise! Epic FAIIL! Wow! By an amateur too-- OWWW!”

“Epic fail on your part– sister!” Nina shot out, her entire arm and body posed perfectly after throwing a rock at this Fallen, Annette’s, way. The rock had only hit her shoulder as fair warning, but next time, if she had to, she would hit her face.

Hayabusa was then released from her spell, and took care of himself quite effectively by catching the bark of the tree with his legs and pushing out in a flash, sending him airborne and into a flip before landing on the ground in a genuflect, his bow and arrow out at the ready.

“Watch out!” Sara yelled. “She’ll control you if your brain is ever empty! Keep thinking, don’t be passive about ANYTHING!”

“Alright, gotcha!” Nina yelled, throwing her head back. “Is there anything else?!” she then swooped low and caught a few rocks on the way down before coming back up.

Hayate launched forward to where the Denise girl flew, shooting his hand forth like a gun and jerking the girl back by the collar near her throat, his fists clenching tight. “How many are there?!”

A bit scraped and burnt, the girl only laughed dryly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He punched her squarely, then, right in the jaw, so hard that her face looked like it broke by the time she flew back through the air and crashed her back on a tree.

“I would.” Hayate spat. “Cheeky brat…”

“Well then, here’s one!” An energetic young male yelled behind him.

“Huh?!” Without wasting a moment, Hayate shot at him with a back-kick, but just as he did, the trickster disappeared and teleported right before him. Hayate was able to look up to see a sharp-faced, wildly confident man of about twenty of years of age with a yellow leotard look down at him wickedly before sending a uppercut that could destroy a tow-truck in it’s wake.

Hayate flew up ten meters in the air upon impact, but didn’t seem in critical shape as he landed, groaning with curses a strew before slowly making his way back up.

“You sure are saving his ass a lot, Elshore.” The young man joked.

“Well, what do you expect, Brad?” Annette said, crossing her arms, crushing her arms, as she made a curt laugh. “–after that little kiss on the way up!”

Sara grit her teeth. “Shut up! I’m taking care of all of them!”

“Yeah - judging by the fact that it’s your fault that they’re even involved with us…” A snicker then came down from yet another tree. “…daughter of Cidel… my, my, your reputation bequeaths you, how unfortunate…”

“Rheenah!” Sara’s eyes widened. “No-- not you too!”

“Yes, I too, am a fallen.” She chuckled, her hand covering her face. “Why? Is it that you fear me the most?”

Orbiting around her horizontally were various extravagant symbols, all lined in a sharp crimson red, basked with a brilliant backdrop the surged brightly.

“Who is she?” Hayate demanded, rushing to Sara with his back to hers.

“That is Rheenah, she can summon all creatures of mythology to do her bidding…”

Nina’s head swirled back to her. “Are you kidding? What are you talking about, creatures of mythology? Are you talking about creatures that aren’t even supposed to exist?”

Sara squinted. “Exactly… that’s right. She is the genius in the academy who was able to seriously recreate all these creatures for her own spells, for her own bidding…”

All of a sudden, it seemed like the lights flickered, and everyone looked up. A man dressed in a white robe with angelic wings began to descend upon them, and in his wake, sunlight flickered to moonlight in a flash, and the whole scenery followed this pattern at his command.

“That’s Grihm.” Sara said, biting her lip before it could tremble. “No way…”

“Let me guess!” Nina said. “He’s like Storm in the X-men?”

“Oh, great, so now we’re fighting a bunch of mutants.” Hayate said, rolling his eyes. “This is what we get for tagging along with Sara.”

“What - I thought I was the one tagging along with you!” Sara said defiantly. Her and Hayate looked at each other and made a face. “You just had to get injured so I had to stay behind and heal you! Hmph!”

“Whatever - our paths have crossed for now - so deal with it.” Hayate then looked up at the sky as this ‘Grihm’ continued to make his way down. “Here - I’ll make you a deal.”

“A deal?” Sara said.

Hayate licked his lips. “Yeah.”

Sara, all the more curious looked back. “What is it?”

“You help us survive - and I treat you to ice-cream after we’re all finished.”

Sara’s eyes went wide. “Ice… cream?”

“Well?”

At a moment like this, she couldn’t help but smirk a little, as the whole group huddled together as these Fallen continued to surround them. “It’s a deal!”

Suzuka trailed up the mountain with DW, trying to get her thoughts out of her head. There was so much things she was thinking about now… so much so that the icy wind and the sloshy snow beneath her feet didn't bother her now as much as it used to before.

"Is that smoke that I smell?" DW asked, sniffing all of a sudden. "How is that possible?"

Suzuka smelled it too. The smell of smoke was evident to her now. She looked at DW, and DW, with the face of Pedro, looked back at her too, before they began running up to see what was going on.

Yes, Suzuka thought to herself, Please just have something happen so I can get these stupid thoughts out of my head. I don't need this right now, I have to focus and just find out what's happening!

As she was pushing these thoughts out of the way, the scenery completely did a good job of replacing them with something else. As they continued to run up, slowly, from the horizon bottom up, the vision of death began to arise before them.

Suzuka choked as she saw the tips of fire make its way to her line of sight, followed by the tips of the roofs of houses and other buildings. Since she was running only so fast, this imagery presented itself to her slowly, like a slide slowly exposing itself peeking up above from below. Before she knew it, this small hint of destruction started turning more and more vast with every passing section, as more detail destructively entered her scope of senses.

Death… shards of glass sticking grossly out of the mouth's of houses, burnt-crisp wooden structures, dancing flames on the pinnacle of ecstasy… the smell of thick, black smoke… and the smell of burning flesh - they all became evident to her as she ran upwards. It covered the scope of her vision like a colossus rising from the grave to appear before her.

This vision of death, why was she running to it? She didn't know. Perhaps it was due to curiosity, perhaps it was due to not being able to pull her eyes off the scenery before her. But she felt a new feeling in her heart, as it accelerated in anticipation, and was unable to stop herself.

Before she could even fathom any more, something ahead of her challenged this momentum, and as soon as the entire scene folded out before her, this particular entity caused her to stop in her tracks.

It was a figure - draped completely in cloak, with the icy wind blowing his clothes boldly into the air. It was a man, there was no mistake about it, his figure was straight and tall, strong and slender, as it stood amongst the destruction, his sides facing both them and the village, as if neither really mattered to him.

She could feel herself biting the insides of her mouth as she stood there. She just stood there. Did the man acknowledge their presence? Or was he so far away, like a mirage, entrapped in his own thoughts as the village was entrapped in the brace of fire?

Yet there was a striking, faint, familiarity to this figure as she looked more at him… something that immediately set her off the moment she caught sight of him. He was completely covered, even his face was imperceivable, as the hood he was wearing covered the brow of his face, and his nose and the shape of his chin was the only thing visible to her - but even then, it was strewn and distorted through the thick smoke and her hazy vision.

Her partner beside her looked like she was about to call out something - but stopped midway in her tracks. Suzuka slightly shifted her eyes sideways, and she realized that DW had stopped just a small ways ahead of her, looking carefully at the figure.

Before either of them could do another thing, the figure turned his back on them and began to disappear into the village.

There was a strong force in Suzuka that wanted to run up to this man… but there was an even stronger force that impelled her to not move at all. Her entire mind was going in circles now, was it playing tricks on her? It couldn't be… no, it was impossible… that same aura… it wasn't foreign to her, but it couldn't possibly be…

"Let's continue." DW's voice was flat.

Suzuka grit her teeth, an overwhelming pressure taking over her. It commanded her to remain still, but something inside her, something… stronger… was resisting this force, her desire and her curiosity continuously vying to break through.

She felt a tug at her sleeve. "Come on, we're almost--"

Suzuka burst forward - completely ignoring her - and ran straight into the scene before her.

"What are you doing-?!" she could hear the strained voice of her companion yelling.

Yet she didn't care. She didn't care. She didn't care about her worried companion, she didn't care if she was faster than her or if she'd catch up or not - she didn't care if the scene she was running at started to become uncontrollably hot - as the hungry tongues of flames began to caress her body teasingly, almost as if salivating the more she ran into them.

What was she doing?!

She breeched the entrance of the village, without a second thought, without a second's hesitation. Was she suicidal?! What was she doing?! She could die here! Didn't that thought ever cross her mind? But no-! No-! She would not let this happen - she would not let him get away from her again!

Who?!

She pushed the question away and continued running forward, her eyes closed, shut in tears, as she continued groping through the flames, as they entrapped and her and sucked the air out of her body. She was asphyxiating now, and she knew she didn't have any more oxygen in her brain to really think - she was suffocating - suffocating in a way much different than she had feared back when she was shooting down the tunnel in ice-cool water. No - this was different. Her body was screaming for something it couldn't have as it was being eaten alive… and she was reaching out… reaching out… reaching out for the answer…

The… answer…

She failed. She couldn't take it. She could feel her body giving out on her. What had she done…? Did she choose wrong? In a flash, she remembered her conversation with Pedro just moments before, how she was telling him that every single second - every split second - and what she did with that second, could end up changing the future. That despite CYPHER being in control of some sort of time manipulation, that all she knew was that she was alive now - and that was what Pedro had taught her. But she didn't know the truth anymore… she didn't know if she could've died or been killed any other second. It was so, completely, unpredictable… and she didn't know anymore…

Perhaps now was her time to go.

That thought stung deeply in her mind - and as she felt it, she could feel a throbbing in her heart that felt so sick about it. It was crying out that it wasn't fair! That she didn't know what those dreams were of yet - she couldn't die now! She couldn't! what was Cidel talking about -- what was her mom saying -- what had happened to her?!

Choking and sobbing within the flames, as destruction swallowed around her, she realized that it was hopeless… there was no point anyways at all. The world would be gone… everything would be destroyed… her movie was ending… her thoughts, her consciousness were disappearing… she would enter the dark abyss and she wouldn't have to worry anymore… it all… didn't matter, anyways…

She felt the cloak entrap her, and that was the last thing she remembered before she completely passed out.

...

When she came to her senses again, she was lying down in some sort of bed… in some sort of inn. She could feel the soft mattress press against her back as she wriggled a little. For a moment, she couldn't remember anything prior, where she was, or how she got there. Perhaps all this was a dream, or no, perhaps she had been dreaming all this time and she had finally just woke up.

She could hear birds chirping outside, and at that point she realized that it must've been early morning. How long had she been asleep, and what exactly happened? Why did she feel so… awkward? Why did she seem so out of it?

Alexander.

That's right! In a moment, everything came back to her - the infiltration into CYPHER - the games she had played with Matsuhiro - and the whole idea of Time Travel, Perfect Cloning. She sat up in a jolt, her heart pounding and her hand on her chest.

"Ah-! Well… good morning." A face, sure enough, was right in front of her, and quite surprised at that.

Suzuka blinked. Then she blinked again. Beneath the cloaks he was wearing, which reminded her of some sort of eastern, arabian, disguise of some sort, she could make out the fine details of his face… and it was so familiar she almost couldn't believe it.

"Doctor…?" she almost choked.

The man smiled. "That's what they say once you get your Ph.D." He quipped lightly.

She rushed to embrace him. She said no more, did no more. She simply just held her embrace tightly, not wanting to release it any time soon.

She could feel his soft arms wrap around her too, and they were like that for awhile, without much or less anything else that needed to be said from them.

Perhaps it was because she had been so tired, so scared, and so unprepared for everything that night that finally, after so long, she felt like she could get some sort of rest. Some sort of salvation from all the damnation that had circled around her. In the back of her mind, she felt as if though this man were like her father, and she thought to herself: 'how lucky Rave is… to have such a father.' and 'no wonder he turned out so happy and carefree… he must've had a lot of love' as Alexander finally released the embrace after rubbing her back reassuringly.

"So-" He then said, more or less the same as before. "We meet again."

"This is so unreal." Suzuka said, shaking her head. "It's like a dream. Where were you, all this time? Is it true, are you really alive? What happened?"

Alexander shook his head. "There's still a lot that you don't know yet Suzuka -- and if I told you, it wouldn't make much sense to you, but that's fine." he looked at her. "I know you have a lot of questions, but you have to trust me in the fact that there are some things you are better not knowing right now."

"Why not?" Suzuka shook her head. "I've been hearing about so much things - time travel, perfect cloning - alternate dimensions, whether or not this is all reality or not… I feel like I can take anything at this point." she paused, then looked at him. "Did you really die…? Or are you a perfect clone? Or… no… are you a time traveler?"

There was a hint of a spark with the last guess she made, and for a moment, her heart stopped in its tracks. "So you did die at this point… so this is your past self that I'm talking to… before you went to the grave?"

Alexander smiled. "The me that's in the grave could've been a ‘me’ any time past ‘the me now’ and ‘the me in the future‘. In effect, it's a dummy grave."

"You mean… the you in the grave… doesn't mean it was the you that died three years ago?"

"When you become a time traveler, think about it~ what determines the you three years ago?"

… Yourself. The answer hit her squarely.

"… I see…" she shook her head. "So then… it's true… you did die, but nobody knows really when. You just ended up dying at that specific time when you chose to go to it."

"Everybody, will eventually die, once their time comes. For you, and for me, at this moment, its just not our time yet."

"So… is it safe to say that your'e still alive now, then?"

"Whether its a convergence of a future you with a present past, or its a future me, going back into your past, should be of no consequence. The truth is we both exist now, in this same time frame, am I right?"

Suzuka nodded. "Yes…" that made her think though, the him that she met three years ago… was that the him from the past? Or was that him from the future? Or could it even be possible that the him that she met back then was a him that came after this present moment?

"No, I remember you~" Alexander told her. "I know what you're thinking, you're wondering if the me now is a past or future version of the me you met three years ago. You don't have to worry about that- I am who I am, after all, I did say 'we meet again'."

"How do I know you already know what will happen in the future, and you're just bluffing now?"

"Hmm~ good question. You don't." He shrugged. "You just have to take my word for it."

His son really was a lot like his father, she thought cynically.

She shook her head though, "I have so much though that I want to ask you…"

"And there are a few things that I will need to tell you, but you have to be patient." He smiled a little. "We've got a few things we ought to do, before we talk."

Suzuka nodded. "Does Matsuhiro know about you being here?"

He shook his head. "No, not even the oh so great Matsuhiro can track me like he can with almost so many others. Although… he probably does have an idea of how things are playing out on my end, he had to develop a very keen sense of predicting the unpredictable, ever since I was able to travel..."

"How is time travel possible though…?"

"How is being alive possible?" He responded back, to which she gave no answer. "To exist in a world where you would've never imagined if you had never come to be?"

"… we just… do." was all she could reply.

Alexander simply smiled. "… I don't want to give you an impression that I'm trying to hide anything from you, but I really have to at the moment."

Suzuka nodded. She trusted him. "So what do we have to right now? Oh… and where is DW?" she looked around. All of a sudden, she remembered her conversation with her, and then a bunch of other questions came that she wanted to ask him. But she took a deep breath and cooled herself down, there will be time… there will be time.

"She can't be with us now… she has to be alone, for now…" his voice sounded a bit sad, but not really regrettable. Almost as if he was confident in her to an extent, like he didn't worry. "Once Rave is released from the time chamber of Havens' he'll be a little distorted, but he'll more or less be more sure of who he is and what he needs to do." He paused. "There will be a time where he will need that extra guidance, and that's why I need to be able to talk to you."

Suzuka squinted. "There's something that's been happening lately… does it have to deal with that…?"

Alexander smiled. "Have you been getting visions?"

"Yes."

"Ah, so it's started… you've begun to tap into your hidden memories."

"Hidden… memories?"

"Yes, it was my wife, Cidel, who was the one who did that to you."

"So… it's true… something did happen… back then. What happened though? I still don't understand! How is this supposed to fit in with everything?"

"Yes…"

Her eyes went wide. "That's right! Cidel! You're her husband, and you're also my uncle… my uncle?!" she shook her head, trying to connect all this information together. "Rave's… my cousin… then?" she choked. "Woah… is that right? Then all this time…"

So that means she was related to DW too? Wait… how could she have missed that? But she didn't know that Alexander was the husband to Cidel until now… yet when he had told her, just so bluntly, she had accepted it just like that. It made so much sense to her! That must have been how he was able to find a way to time travel!

"So if Corso is the time-keeper, then you are the time-traveller…" Suzuka pieced together, slowly. "You two must not get along very well, huh?"

"More like we can't even interact. It's impossible for us, Cidel made it so that it could be that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't see him… and he can't see me. We're paradoxes of each other."

Suzuka didn't say much further, she knew he was already telling her a lot, and there was still a lot she had to process. He's the husband of Cidel. She thought again… and for some reason, it just felt so right.

"By the way, how are you feeling?" He asked. "I gave you some of the purple potion to help you heal your wounds."

"I'm… ok…" she looked at her arms. Completely fine… in fact, she felt better than she did when she started this entire mission. How could that be though… she was supposed to be in a virtual world. This wasn't supposed to be possible.

“Good.” He made a firm nod. “Now… you have to come with me. There’s a few things we have to do… and a handfull of memories for you to unlock.”

“Why?” Suzuka shook her head, and then looked at him sincerely. “Why do we have to do this, sir…?” ‘sir?’ the word rang in her head, and for a moment, she wondered why she had called him that. It had been years upon years since she had addressed anyone so formally. But then again, times were reminiscent, and the feeling had came back to her.

Alexander smiled softly. “Because you are her true successor.” he then stood up and turned around to the door, his cape fluttering behind him as he did so. “It’s time to go.”

“Ughh…” She groaned as she latched out from underneath the bear-skin. “Water… I want water…”

“Shh.” The sharp hiss of Hayabusa’s whisper cut across the cold wind and pierced her ears as well as her demeanor.

“Oops!” Sara bolted up. In a moment, she felt an immense pain erupt from her left shoulder. “Arghhh!” she felt back down, wheezing slightly from the extra movement.

“You’re lucky we made it alive… due to that grandiose spell you procured not too long ago.” Hayate’s voice echoed from around her, accompanied by the faint sound of a fireplace in the background. Now that she mentioned it, she noticed a faint glow from over yonder.

They were taking shelter. And it seemed like they were in some sort of ice cave.

“Summoning all the elements of Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Lightning into one…” Hayate continued. “I must say, that was quite a spectacle. You deserve your ice-cream.”

“Wait…” Sara shook her head. “What… exactly happened?”

“We don’t expect you to remember anything.” Hayate told her. “It was all a blur for the most of us. But you were able to save the day… at least, so far.”

“Nina-! Where’s Nina?” She asked turning her head from to side to side.

A small murmur could be heard from right next to her. Sara blinked a few times before she looked underneath the bear-skin that was covering her to see Nina, shriveled up, almost in a fetal position, whispering softly to herself.

“Is she ok?” Sara asked, out into the darkness.

“She suffered some mental damage, but she should be fine in just a few hours.” Hayabusa reassured her. “Just get some rest. There is some investigation to be done once your injuries are healed.”

Sara couldn’t complain. Afterall, it hurt her just to move… some more rest was completely welcome.

“This cave seems to go deep into some forbidden territory.” Hayate warned. “We’ll be investigating it more when you wake up, so prepare yourself.”

(Great…) Sara thought fondly to herself (Well, as long as I get my ice cream…)

The day was just the same as ever. The autumn sky was starting to fade and the sunlit tones of evening began to set over the scenery like a whisk of cloth being draped over a candle. As the sky slowly began to transition from noon to evening, the lonely girl looked up at the scene before her. She was sitting outside her place, with her legs swinging back and forth as she hung them across the brick wall she sat on.

"Sis!" Her brother called out, confident yet proud. There was a good feeling here, something in the air was nice, almost pleasant. She looked back at him laughing.

"Hey Kazu, what's up?"

"Are we going to Nina's place today?"

"Hm?" She stopped and rolled her eyes. "Nina, again? Why do you want to keep going to her place, Kazu?"

She couldn't help but chuckle a little to herself. Her brother really liked to follow after her example sometimes. "Whatever - you're still Kazu to me." she shrugged, then tried her new signature move, the reverse wink. "How's that?" she asked, smiling.

"Woah… it looks perfect now."

"Comes with practice~" She then launched herself off the wall she was sitting on and then landed. "So you and this girl… you guys are getting along pretty well?"

"Yep! She's pretty cool."

The girl looked at her brother carefully. He was 12 now… back when she was 12… she looked up - she would be hanging out with Pedro quite a bit.

"All right then, let's go then." She looked at her watch. "The bus should be coming in about 10 minutes, you have your pass with you?"

"Yep~" He grinned, waving it.

"All right, cool. We're off."

They walked down the block, with DW constantly keeping time to make sure that they didn't miss it. By the time they made it to the corner, they were two minutes earlier than scheduled.

It was useful that she had memorized all the bus schedules for all the routes around the area. It was fun to go places, and the most effective way was to go through bus. Her and her brother were probably always the youngest people who ever went into the bus, but they always sat in front, close to where the bus driver was, and she had frequently talked and made friends with them.

At this point, she was locally a genius. She knew all the hot places to go to, and she knew all the routes to take to make sure she got there. They made excellent study points and she could rest assured that Kazu could stay home and be all right on his own. She spoiled him silly with what she bought and left in the fridge, and he had plenty of hobbies and friends he could spend time with.

"Hey sis, why are you coming with me this time? To Nina's?"

"I… think I know her brother." DW told him, her voice a little soft. "I just want to check out and make sure."

"Oh- so his last name is also Skye?" he asked.

"Yeah~" She tried to smile. Her brother didn't know anything. But maybe one day… he'd eventually find out what he needed to know. But she was curious, she was suspicious, and she wanted to know-- overall, she wanted to meet their father.

These thoughts preoccupied her mind as her brother stood next to her, smiling in anticipation.

"Yep. She said I could come visit so we could hang out together." He paused. "I heard she has a brother too. I hope he's not a bully."

"If he is, I'll beat him up." She said, confident and reassuring as she smirked slightly. She knew he wasn't one. That boy was a nice guy, she could tell the first time she had encountered him at the church.

"You've met him before?"

"Yeah, you shouldn't have to worry about anything." she sighed.

The bus finally pulled up, and as it did, the doors opened to reveal the kind face of a middle aged driver. "Hello, Calrene!" It seemed like the driver was Myra today. "Nice to see you with your brother this afternoon!"

DW stepped up into the bus and smiled, handing over the card to her to swipe through the machine. "Thanks~ I'm bringing him over to a friend's today."

"Oh, that's great." Myra said, next taking Dwayne's pass. "Your tickets will expire later this December, then you'll have to remember to renew your annual pass." she said, reminding her.

"Ah, that's right." DW said, nodding.

Myra then leaned closer to her and spoke in a hushed voice. "Come on and board this bus around the same time come this December and I'll renew both of your passes - all on me."

DW's eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Yes." Myra said, then ushered them in to sit close up next to her. "So where is your destination today?"

Myra laughed and patted Dwayne on the shoulder. "Look's like your sister is still a little possessive. Well, you're lucky enough as you are, don't take her for granted."

"I don't. I love my sister." Dwayne went over and sat next to her. "Doesn't mean I can't talk to other pretty girls though." he then looked at his sister and made that smug smile.

"Ha…" If only he knew.

"Well, it's time to take off." Myra said aloud, starting the engine.

As the engine began to come to life, DW could feel a small chill run down the spine of her back. There was a part of her that didn't want to go, but as much as she tried to stall Dwayne, if she didn't go now, she'd eventually end up going later. DW simply looked out, not believing that her own little brother would end up taking them straight to their father's house.

She stared at the flames as it continued to consume the area before. Never in her life had she seen such brash action take place. Well… perhaps there were a few, but what she had witnessed was a woman who had literally just ran into her death. It didn’t make sense to her.

But she couldn’t do anything. All she could do was watch as it happened. The other girl was now just in the flames now, and she was outside of it. She looked around the area, tracing for clues… trying to see what it could’ve been that caused the calamity.

She had no idea. She couldn’t find anything. She looked back to the village, though, and pondered a single thought: if Alexander Skye was there, if that figure with the middle eastern cloak and hood was really present, and it was her father, would she choose to run into the flames in pursuit?

Suzuka probably had good reason to run in. Her father was probably good and alive, and he would probably save her if he had the chance. But was that where she wanted to go? Is that where she wanted to follow?

(No.)

The answer was so very clear to her. She needed to first off, find Pedro. The real Pedro, and they needed to somehow swap bodies. She had to team up with him, finally, and get the information that she needed so that they could defeat Matsuhiro. They needed to restore time to the way that it needed to be, they needed to find a way to defeat that genius. And they needed to do it tonight. Now.

Without looking back, she dashed up the slope of the mountain to the right-side of the burning village. No longer restrained by Suzuka, she was able to find her own path. She was able to continue the road that she needed to follow. And most of all, more importantly, she would do it on her own.

=== === ===

Suzuka struggled up the path. “Why does she hate you so much?” she asked Alexander, as he reached his hand and helped pull her up along the mountainous slopes. “All I could feel from her was some sort of hatred from you, there was nothing redeeming in her eyes. Why?”

Alexander shook his head. “It’s because she doesn’t understand.” he paused, before smiling softly. “I’ve already spent a lifetime with her.”

“I don’t understand.” Suzuka shook her head, but then proceeded to jump across to the next jutted rock, and then the other, following his path as he continued to do all this simply and with ease, almost with no consequences. “But perhaps you really do know more, because you’ve been doing all this time travel… to be honest, I don’t really know about her attitude. There’s something about her that’s uneasy that I feel.”

“Perhaps… it’s her hatred towards me?” He suggested, barking it off while making a long jump.

“Per-haps!!” Suzuka yelled after, as she followed and did the same.

“How is my son, by the way?” Alex asked her, as she knelt down to rest for awhile.

“Rave…? Oh… he’s so you.” Suzuka said, waving it off with a laugh. “Although… minus the weirded out phase that he gets into when he goes into a rampage about things… and his reaction when he hears the name of Cidel…”

“I see.” His father nodded. “There’s a lot… that he’s probably had to go through tonight.”

“Yes-s!” Suzuka scrambled up to regain her footing. “And so have I.”

“And I’ve also come along… to help you so that you can finally realize your place in things… and see through the locked up chambers that have been hiding your past.”

“Is that why you’re here now?” Suzuka asked. “But how am I supposed to be pivotal to this whole thing? Are you saying that I’ve got something important to fulfill tonight as well? Am I meant to be here?”

Alexander nodded. “Yes, you are meant to be here. Everything was set this way for a reason.”

“So it’s all fate, it’s all destiny. There’s been no mistake in any of it--” She asked.

“Not everything today has been planned from the beginning… but your retrieval of memories, has always been certain.”

Suzuka gulped. “What is it that I need to know…?”

“Part of the answer will be found as you continue up this mountain.”

“Have I been to this mountain before?” Suzuka asked. “Why have I been getting all of my memories whenever I’ve been climbing up these mountains?”

“It’ll all become clear to you as we go on our way.” Alexander said, helping her along as he pulled her hand.

Rave stared after the fleeting form of DW, feeling a slight sting after being brushed off yet again. Their conversation prior consisted of only three sentences, before she turned away and started walking to class.

Her silhouette completely captivated him. It was probably just a small difference she made compared to the other girls who walked around, but he could tell. The way her body just swung from side to side, the small way she bobbed up and down, the way her hair swept along with the rhythm, and the way it gave off such power with such perfect balance, it was beyond him.

(Not many people would spend a lot of time concerning themselves on how they walk) Rave thought to himself, (But I have a feeling she's been tweaking this style for hours and hours.)

"Mastering- would be a better word." A voice called behind him.

Rave turned back, his eyes widening a bit.

"Here." Pedro pointed at the resume he was holding. "You're aiming at 'mastering' the Martial Arts, and also the Japanese language."

Rave laughed a little, his attention shifting as he turned to his friend. "You don't think 'refining' is good enough in this situation? I don't know if you can ever really 'master' anything."

"Perhaps we can't." Pedro said, grinning as he was caught pretty good with that one. "But if we say we want to Master it, we set a higher standard to refine in~ or perhaps" He shrugged. "We can master something, it's just that the mindset has to be there first in order for it to make it happen. Who says you can't reach the 'peak'?"

Her voice returned. "The human race itself has been trying to find it's 'peak', but the peak keeps growing the more we try to reach it."

Rave couldn't believe it. It was like magic. How did she come back here?

"Depends what you define as 'the peak'." He said back. "There are already many things the human race have mastered, but we haven't mastered everything, obviously."

"Really?" DW asked. "So what have you mastered?"

"The alphabet?" Pedro laughed.

"Ok, what's the 7th letter?"

"Um…" he started counting his fingers.

"Fail…" She laughed.

"F…G!" Pedro said.

"If I gave you two random words, would you be able to put them in alphabetical order?"

"Like which words."

"Quasi and Quash?"

"What the- what are those words?" Pedro asked, his eyes squinting.

"Exactly." She smiled. "I assume you think you've mastered the English language too?"

"You need to set more definition in order to classify yourself at 'mastering' something." Pedro said, still shaking his head. "For example, single digit arithmetic-"

"-7 + -4"

"-11." He said instantaneously.

"-4 - 3"

"-7." He answered again.

She frowned. "Fine. Good point."

Rave was just grinning the whole time. "I guess you're right then, Pedro. Some things, if you set them low enough, you can master."

"Yes." Page laughed. "But that shouldn't stop you from trying to master things that are greater."

DW smiled as she saw him get back at Rave. "Well, like what?"

"I've no idea." Pedro said, shrugging. "I just have to see and find out." He paused for awhile, and then looked at both of them. "In any case, this whole debate about mastery is closed. Things can be mastered, or wasn't that the whole point of everything?"

"You've got a good point…" Rave paused for a second. "Fine, I'll change what I wrote here - to ‘mastery~’."

"No complaints." She smirked though as she turned around. "You can work on 'mastery', I'll just work on getting better~"

Rave stopped writing and looked up from his homework to stare at them. "You two never give it up, do you?" he asked, laughing a little.

"It's just another one of those days." Pedro shrugged at his friend.

DW stuck her tongue out at him as she left the two boys back to where they started from.

Rave turned to Pedro. “I don’t understand her sometimes… why does she do what she does?”

Rave sighed, before sitting down. He thought that DW was a good person, but for some reason every time he tried to get close to her, he would face the same kind of reaction. He was lucky that he had Pedro around sometimes, at least with Pedro around, some decent kind of conversation could take place.

“Why are you looking down…?” Pedro asked, sitting next to his friend.

“Easy for you to say, she doesn’t brush you off or always avoid you every time you go and try to talk to her. I feel like I’m getting put down every single time.” He made a face. “She seems like a completely different person than when I first met her in church. It’s only due to a miracle that I was able to talk to her again- since me and you knew each other from Tae Kwon Do.”

Pedro looked up at the sky. “She doesn’t get too close to anybody. Look at even me, I’ve known her since she was 10 or something. She says she doesn’t want to get into a relationship her entire High School career, so I guess she’s going to keep with it.”

Rave laughed a little. “It sucks, you know…”

“Hm?” Page looked his way. “Why?”

“Because you don’t realize how close you really are to her. You have easy access to her - you’re able to talk to her any time, she’s pretty much super beautiful and yet you shrug it off like it’s nothing. I mean, don’t you want a piece of that?”

“I do, but being how I am works with her best right now. She has a lot to focus on, and she looks up to me to keep my cool, so I have to. We both have to.”

“I don’t know… I just don’t understand why she’s being cold to me.” Rave looked to the side. “Everytime she does, I wonder if it’s something I did. Or not that… or if there’s just something that bad about me. I can’t really pinpoint anything at this point, and that’s why it bothers me. She’s so mysterious about things…”

“Is that what fascinates you?” His friend rose an eyebrow.

Rave blinked. “Well - no, not just that.” He looked away again. “The lifestyle she’s leading… the way she does all that she does… it’s just really inspiring. I’ve never met someone like that before, or even imagined someone like her could exist. It’s almost like she came out of a dream.” he paused for a moment and looked up at the sky. “And the way she thinks… she can really think…”

“I know…” Page shook his head.

“Pedro…” Rave paused. “To be honest… it really hurts.”

“Huh?” Pedro blinked. “What does?”

“Her… thinking about her… even interacting with her. It hurts. Yet…” He looked at his hand, spreading his fingers out. “I still feel a pull towards her. Is it just me wanting to get hurt? Because I know that every time I go for it, I usually get pinned down. Or turned away from. Or even ignored. So why? Why…?”

Pedro grimaced. It’s true that DW wasn’t particularly close with any guy she knew, but at the same time, he never saw her this harsh to someone before. At least with the other suitors, she could turn them down in a way where they could still be on good terms with her. With Rave though… it seemed like he was putting in all the effort just to be nice. It confused him too, how DW could act in such a way.

“Pedro… do you believe in the idea that the more a girl seems to hate you, the more they might really like you?” Rave looked at his friend.

Page had to grit his teeth a little for this one. “I think that the most important thing to look at here is ‘indifference’. Indifference… is what is probably the worst thing a girl can show to you.”

“Oh.” Rave put his head down. “… why am I so effected by her?”

“You… just must really have a thing for her.” Pedro smiled a little, but he put one hand on his heart as he did so. “You’re like me… you’ve got high standards. And you don’t like giving up. Plus, DW is an amazing girl-- almost supernatural. It’s no wonder-”

“I’ve never felt this kind of effect on me in my life.” Rave shook his head. “It… it scares me, Pedro. I don’t know what to think of it.”

“It’s just DW.” Pedro said, smiling. Well, yes, it was ‘just DW’ to him. But apparently, to Rave, she was something to be completely fawned over. “You can become good friends with her. I’ll talk to her about it. It’ll be ok, alright dude?”

“Really?”

Pedro nodded. “Yeah, for sure. I don’t know what it is that may have caused her to act that way towards you, but if there’s something, I can definitely see what’s up now that you’ve told me about it, and we can see how things go.” He smiled. “I think that she’s going to continue focusing rather than thinking about being in a relationship, but at least we can work out all this mess that seems to bother you dude. I don’t like seeing you like this. So leave it to me.”

Rave smiled lightly. “Thanks dude. I really hope so.”

Pedro thought for awhile, before he clicked his fingers. “I’ve got an idea.”

This seemed to perk him up. “You do?”

Pedro nodded. “Yup. Her favorite singer is visiting the area soon. You know Kasey McKormick?”

“Oh.”

“I’ve got some connections - and I can get all of us some front row tickets. We can invite you, her, and both of your siblings. I think Dwayne and Nina know each other, so it should work out.”

“Wait, her brother knows Nina?”

“Yeah, she never told you?”

Rave thought about it for awhile. It didn’t make sense to him. “Did Nina do something to Dwayne? Could that be the cause? Maybe Calrene is jealous because of that…?”

Pedro shrugged. “Beats me. But I’m sure with all of us there, we’ll find out.”

Rave smiled a little. He felt better, but Pedro could tell he was still down. “We’ll see.”

Before she realized it, the white atmosphere had completely left her. In her stead was a memory that she couldn’t quite identify with… but here she was, in it all. In fact, everything seemed a little bit warped… the floor seemed closer to her, it seemed.

Yes…

She was looking through the eyes of a child. Could it be though… was this herself? It couldn’t be…

It was almost as if watching a movie in first person. She obviously had no control over her actions, nor the camera movement. Yet she was moving apparently, moving quickly, around a carpeted floor and playing a game of some sort. She didn’t know what it was though.

“You can’t get me!” A voice called out. A girl’s voice… who could it have been though?

“Yes I will!” She heard herself call out to said girl.

Suzuka almost gulped. Even though she wasn’t in control of anything at all, she could feel her ‘voice’ call from inside her. She could feel the movements, as if she were going through them herself. Everything from this ‘scene’ was completely felt, almost as if she were living though it presently, even though it was probably no more than a memory.

Her head swung momentarily, and in it, she caught a glance of a small child… about five years old or so, with golden blonde hair, laughing and shrieking as she tried to scramble up the stairs to get away from her.

This must be tag. Suzuka thought to herself. I’m playing tag with some unknown girl… how great, this is really important… Suzuka really had to compliment herself for the dryness of her tone. Perhaps she really could be a comedian, she saw things so plainly she couldn’t deny that -she- even found it funny.

“That’s enough~” A voice called suddenly from behind them. “Nina, Suzuka, stop running around the house right now.”

Suzuka froze in her tracks. That voice… that voice petrified her, and not because it was scary, but because she realized just now where it came from.

‘The lady of the Gods…’ she thought, gulping a little. ‘I’m about to see her… Rave and Nina’s mom… the woman who just called to me right now.’

She didn’t know why, but perhaps it was because she had the utmost respect for the woman that she couldn’t help but feel a tingle of fear settle in the small of her back. Without really having any chance to brace herself for anything, her young self automatically forced her to swirl quickly, so she could see the woman who was before her.

‘CIDEL!’

The voice cried out in wonder the moment she saw her. If it weren’t for the fact that her former self was breathing heavily, her breath would have completely stopped at this point. Yes, it was the fabled lady of the gods… but she didn’t look like anything portrayed from the glass murals in the divination school of magic that flaunted her image with the utmost beauty and adoration…

No. She saw in front of her a house-wife with sleek jeans and and an apron, holding a house swiffer casually over her shoulder with one hand on her hip with a slightly irate face. This image was enough to make Suzuka clench her teeth (metaphysically of course).

Even with her bundled up features, Cidel looked majestically beautiful. Well… to be accurate, she actually looked frighteningly cute. Cute in the sense that the face she made would probably rival Rave’s when it came to loosening you up when in fact it was supposed to have the exact opposite effect.

That’s because you think Rave’s super hot when he gets angry though… Suzuka thought guiltily to herself. She felt her heart jump, simply from the notion of it all.

Cidel’s face suddenly changed from slightly irked to one of slight confusion, as her head suddenly tilted sideways and her eyebrows slightly rose while her mouth dropped open.

‘--oh no, yikes, what? What’s happened!’ Suzuka began to panic.

“You’re being channeled…” She whispered softly, her eyes still slightly surprised. “I can’t believe you eventually got enough power to do it… theoretically, it was the one thing I didn’t really count on …”

‘Wait. Is she talking to me?’ Suzuka felt her eyes fluttering. Perhaps her child self didn’t really know what was happening either…

“Did it happen?” She could hear her young voice ask. “Did it, Auntie Cidel?”

‘Wait--- what ‘did it happen’ ?!’ Suzuka demanded. ‘I don’t get it, even the young me knows more about this than I do?’

Cidel tilted her head again, squinting, but then answered Suzuka’s young self promptly. “Yes… it’s happened, but it appears that the second effect has taken place as well… your memory from the future has clearly been erased.”

“Suzuka, I told you to be careful of that attitude of yours.” Cidel said, putting her second hand atop her hip. “Plus, is this something you want your future self to hear? Especially if she’s undergoing her first impressions of you?”

“Oh well. She’s me, right? She understands.” The young her shrugged. So RUDE! To the lady of gods!! This was blasphemous!

But at the same time, Suzuka couldn’t feel a strange bound with this young her, and there was something about her sarcastic tone that lightened her heart.

Cidel suddenly widened her eyes more, before taking her free hand and covering her mouth before laughing freely.

Suzuka could feel her young self widen her eyes and look up curiously. “Did… I say something funny?” she asked, kind of confused.

Cidel shook her head, waving it off. “No, it’s just that I can hear the ‘future’ you and her thoughts. Perhaps you’re right.”

Cidel then looked at Suzuka again, and this time, as she did, Suzuka could feel her gaze piercing into her. It was a strong presence. Such so, that she couldn’t understand why the young her still felt completely normal about her. Did she have any idea whos presence she was under? She couldn’t really comprehend what kind of circumstances could allow her to be so calm under these certain conditions. Perhaps she was just too naïve as a kid.

Yeah, that must be it. She had never gone through all the classes depicting all the accomplishments of the lady of the gods. She would have no idea who or what was looking right at her right now, because presently, in the inside, Suzuka could feel a pressure like none other that seemed to be crushing her right now.

“It’s all right, it’s not really that bad.” Cidel said to her.

Suzuka could feel her young self begin to protest, but suddenly stop herself. The restraint that she felt from her own young body to pull back was sharp, almost as if she had enacted the very command itself. But she had no idea why.

“That’s right, ‘young Suzuka’, like I said, when this happens, its best that you don’t say much so I can talk to your older self. Just bear with this for awhile…”

“I knew this would be weird…” She heard her young self mutter, and she agreed.

‘So… um… does this mean I can talk to you… Cidel?’ She asked outwardly to the woman before her.

“Yes.” Cidel answered normally, a small smile on her face. “Sorry I’ve been ignoring you for so long, but I’ve had to explain the situation to your young self first before I could do this.”

“Mommmyyy” Nina’s voice called from behind. “I want to play tag!! I was winning!!”

Cidel shook her head. “The moment I felt the channeling we needed to stop dear. Sorry, we’ll play after.”

Suzuka felt like she didn’t have a right to reply to anything, be it sarcastic or not. In fact, she was afraid of her sarcastic disposition so much that she feared accidentally thinking something dry or inappropriate in the presence of the lady of the gods.

As much as she was inclined to do this naturally, she could never forgive herself if she ended up being rude in front of her now.

“Can you hear yourself?” Cidel first asked Suzuka’s younger self.

The young her shook her head slowly. “No, not really… why?” she inclined her head. “What’s the big deal?”

Cidel shook her head before she smiled softly to herself. Then she shifted her gaze and looked at Suzuka directly. “It’s nice to meet you, don’t worry, you can actually talk to me. I hate to tell you this, but I can kind of read your thoughts, so don’t worry about hiding anything from me.”

Her openness threw Suzuka back.

“What time is it, now in your world?” She asked Suzuka.

Suzuka paused for a moment, not really wanting to talk for one. However, as her disposition granted it, she realized there was no getting around it. This woman was intimidating though, regardless of the kind smile that she brought out. It really was almost like a dream.

“I don’t know how far I’m supposed to go into the specifics… I think it’ll change time if I do, but I’m coming from a dire time. CYPHER is…”

“I already know what will happen with CYPHER…” Cidel answered. “This time frame won’t be affected… because it’s not really existant.”

“Huh?” Suzuka blinked a little, but then realized how rude she had just interrupted her. She bowed immediately after. “I’m sorry about that~! I-I’m still a little confused.”

She remembered what she had told Rave, not too long ago, or-- wait-- that was Pedro, not Rave. Oh well, they were the same anyhow. Anyways, she had made it a point that every single second counted in changing the future. What she was about to do right now was definitely going to change the future in some way or another… no matter what, right? Unless.. unless…

“Nothing is predetermined.” Cidel answered her, smiling faintly. “Your freedom and ability to move and think freely allows you to change the future in an instant, so there is nothing that is planned, as long as you can feel that inside of you.”

Suzuka nodded slowly.

“Nothing will effect the future that will happen, because in this time frame, it already ‘has’ happened, therefore, nothing can be done to change it. Do you understand?”

Suzuka slowly shook her head.

“You don’t need to know the peculiars about it, but just understand the concept, if you may?”

Suzuka nodded. “Yes… I will.” Suzuka realized, or rather remembered, that most of the things that had happened this night were all things that she couldn’t wrap around her head, no matter how much she tried. Everyone’s mind had a limit, and she had reached hers long ago.

She was in a dream within a dream, almost. First, she was trapped in this XX792 area, and now, within this sphere of illusion, she had been completely sucked into this new dream-like world. She had no choice but to understand things only as they were presented to her.

“What am I here for?” She got straight to the point, acknowledging the situation and also realizing that there was no time to think through such things. The best way was to go direct.

“I’m not only here to recall your memory, but to show you what happened with the first infiltration with CYPHER. I will show you the later first, so it may help you see what you need to for your future. Then I’ll reveal to you what you’ll need to know before you depart.”

“Are you ready, Casey?” The director called over from backstage. “Your debut performance is just under 30 minutes now! The crowd is screaming for you!”

Tracy knew that she had been preparing for this for over a year and a half now, but her heart couldn’t stop pounding simply due to the fact that she would be performing live in an area where the chances of him seeing her were most likely. Ever since she had made her debut performance appointment with the Hollywood bowl, a huge publication of the event had circled over California. Millions were hearing about it, and ratings were off the chart. What more, Hollywood was only about an hour away from where Rave lived. If not him, at least some of his friends or his sister knew about it. And her show was already estimated to be one of the highly anticipated gross marketed ones of the year. Important people had their eyes on her.

A slight knock came at her door. She seemed phased a little, but quickly retained her composure.

“Yes, come in.” She said.

The door opened, and slowly a well-endowed figure entered the room. Tracy recognized his face immediately, but she wasn’t sure what to say. “Doctor… Richards.”

“Casey McCormick, is it?” Richard’s smiled. “Or should I say Tracy Havens. Your father really raised you up right.”

Tracy shook her head. This important figure-head of CYPHER coming to visit her was a litle bit of a shock, if not a surprise. She blinked as she studied his meticulously primed figure. There was a hint of something here… a stare that he gave her that made the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up and alert. It was the feeling she got whenever she knew that a man was acting gentle, but had the utmost of ulterior motives behind that gentelness. It was a façade that was so evident to her, since she had experienced what true kindness was, even if only a couple of times.

In times, it disgusted her.

“I was wondering if I could get a signature for my daughter. She’s outside now, and she’s a huge fan of yours. I couldn’t help but come in and ask.”

Tracy snapped out of it and grabbed hold of a light pen. “Sure, what is it that she wanted autographed?”

Richard’s shook his head. “Could you use this sharipe instead, please?” he handed her a thick red sharpie marker. Tracy’s fingers twitched the moment they wrapped around it. Fighting back the urge to be impolite, she then smiled at Richard’s artificially and proceeded to write her signature.

Tracy handed it to him. As she did, however, he gently took her hand and held it dearly. The touch from his hands caused her to gasp.

“Keep it up.” He told her, with a fake genuine smile.

Tracy could only nodd. “Your welcome.”

Shortly after he left the room, her phone rang.

“Casey - were you polite to Richards?” The director’s voice called over. “He’s one of your top promoters! Remember, he’s a very important supporter of yours.”

Tracy shook her head. “The only reason why he promotes me is because he and my father work together as colleagues, so it’s an inside thing, and he has a bunch of money to spare.”

“Well, he is the president of CYPHER.”

“Good for CYPHER…” Tracy shook her head. It was the first time she had personally met the man, but she had already heard a good deal about him, and frankly, it was none of her business. Not her personal business, anyway.

… … …

The Hollywood Bowl was ablaze with lights, and thousands upon thousands of people were spread around the colossal auditorium. Rave never really understood the big hype of Kasey McKormick before, but so many people in their school had been talking about it, and everybody seemed to say her name one time or another whenever he’d pass by a random crowd.

Perhaps it was because she didn’t have a lot of haters. Oh, there were some, no doubt about that, but there was something about Kasey McKormick that seemed genuine, real, sweet, soft, and also cute. Nobody could really pin her down for being like that. And also, the songs she sang were really touching. They’d breach into the most inner parts of the human soul.

He didn’t really quite understand it, it seemed like for some reason he was immune to it all, but it was good to him all the same. Apparently, Calrene was in love with this girl’s singing, and because of such, her, Pedro, Dwayne, and Nina were all here tonight. Regardless if this singer was over-rated or not, the fact that she could bring such a numerous crowd altogether proved astonishing. Perhaps that’s why singers were paid so much though… they brought this much people together.

“I can’t wait.” He could hear Calrene whispering to Pedro. “I can’t believe you were able to get us front row seats here! This is amazing! I love you so much Page!”

Pedro didn’t seem to care, but Rave flinched slightly before shrugging it off. It was ok. It was already understood that those two were childhood friends. He still didn’t get why Pedro really didn’t care too much about Calrene, or to him ‘DW’, but it was fine all the same. It was fine all the same.

The bright lights began to dance rapidly then, and an announcer started talking while some exciting music built up the anticipation.

“Tonight - Kasey McCormick will debut her never before heard, highly anticipated song tonight: Breakthrough!”

It seemed like the whole audience was holding their breath at this point. Rave glanced upwards, crossing his arms as he looked at the stadium. This is where the singing model would appear from… huh? Hm… it was going to be quite something. Quite something, he was finally going to see what it was about this girl that made DW love her so much.

The beat of the drums kicked in, and the audience bagan to cheer. Lights went off from the floor lights, shooting up high above in many flashy different colors. And then the moment the whole night was looking for - the entrance of their beloved star, the sweet style beauty, Kasey McKormick.

… … …

The crowd was enormous. But the bright lights and the kick of the music kept her mind preoccupied on other things. Her opening song tonight was the same song that made her debut, the very song that shot her up in the charts and rose her to the number one spot for four weeks straight, ‘Beloved’.

She closed her eyes and sang with a style that won her voice over with the crowd.

“I’ve known you… for who knows how long…
And we’re so close… yet so far, at the same time!

I touch you… and when I do your eyes spark-- but you don’t do… anything~
So what is it… what-is-this caaage, that’s holding you back?
Holding you baack?

From me?

I know what it isss, surrender
I know what it isss, but I can’t let you know - no not right now!
I know what it isss, remember
But I can’t show you - I can’t right now!

The saddest part… is that you don’t know…
But I do… but I will have to wait… I have to be strong…
For you… for me… for us… and the future that I know will come true…

-End-

As the song ended, the lights turned off from all around them. There was the sound of the shutters falling, before everyone let out a huge cheer. The crowd, aroused as if on fire, could not help but promote their festivities as they continued to ravish out with renewed energies. It was revamped, the entire atmosphere had changed once again, and more new performances were waiting to be performed at hand.

Yet, there was a chord here that mystified Rave. He didn’t know quite how, but he felt something inside him stir, something he wasn’t quite too sure of. [So this must be how it is to listen to a top-notch singer perform] He thought to himself, [She definitely is something else… I get a weird, tingly feeling when I hear her voice. Almost as if…]

It called out to him? But no - that was impossible. How could he relate to such a song, when he had no sort of relation to it whatsoever.

… … …

Tracy couldn’t believe her eyes. She was staring straight at the person who she had dedicated the song to, and he had done nothing but blindly stare back at her. He probably didn’t even know that she had looked at him, and how in that moment, all time seemed to stop, all logic seemed to enter a blurry faze, and the ultimate goal of her career (and it almost felt like her existence) had finally caught her eyes after all this time.

Yet, he didn’t know. He didn’t understand. She didn’t expect him to understand. He wouldn’t.

She felt tired now, leaning her back against the chair, her spine arching backwards with her nose pointed straight to the ceiling. She blinked once, then twice, feeling that this break would not be enough to let her come to her senses. As much as the audience was probably wowed and effected by her performance, Tracy was just as dazed herself.

There were many ways to go about this from here. She could snap herself out of it, tell herself that it didn’t matter, and get on with it. Or she could try to do something… maybe give a hint, or anything… so he could know. Maybe she could do something so he could meet her backstage! Or perhaps maybe she could somehow carry him upstage with her, and then take him backstage herself after the song was over.

Yes! That would do it!

But just thinking about it sent a nervous chill down the back of her neck. With all those people watching, what would they think if she just did that? What would happen if Rave was rightfully suspected of being the target of her song list… and then what of their privacy? There would be none, she was a raging celebrity now, a rock star without the rock (perhaps she could pass for soft rock, taken that ‘soft’ didn’t count as the raging indicator of how widely popular she was.)

She blinked a couple of times, wondering how she could break out of her spell. There was so much things that she wanted to do, yet she was so close and so far at the same time. The dizzying effect of just thinking of such things was enough to make her want to stop right there, just end the show as it was, and not perform anymore. As much as her motivation wanted to drive, she found herself feeling that it was also dry, like a gadget that wanted to switch into turbo as soon as it found out it just reached low in battery.

Subconsciously, she felt a weakness that she didn’t know existed in her until she thought about her and him, and their past. So much warm memories… and so many fun filled times… but what was it worth when it had all been forgotten? How sweet… yet bittersweet, to know that the empty capsule right in front of you was once the same filled with everything you ever wanted to have.

But he had never always been hers. He had kept his distance. He had done it because he loved her. He was so oblivious to it and he didn’t know it so much that at the moment it bothered her. Was it a dissapointment? Perhaps it wasn’t all a dissapointment, but she couldn’t help but feel so helpless as she stood and watched him stare uncertainly when the answer was right there. What was this barrier that was stopping him? What was it that had made him lose trust in that reality?

She bit her lower lip and tried to push her mind to think more clearly. No… doing that wasn’t going to work, she was already losing herself, drowning in the thoughts that were vying to swallow her up from the inside. She had felt this before, she knew it very well, yet she still had no way to counteract as well. But as she thought this, her mind seemed to clear a bit, and it almost seemed to awaken. This was an emotion that she felt, obviously, of lonliness. But she wouldn’t be lonely. No. She wouldn’t. She would be able to talk to him again, and she was certain of that. She didn’t know why, or how, but she knew that it wasn’t the end between them yet. And as long, just as long, as they had that chance, she still had the chance to find that part from within him. To draw it out, to make it shine, to make him remember, and to free his soul.

What was the sadness behind his smile? What was it that he was always suffering from? Was it because he was thinking too much of how to be considerate for others? Was it because he was sacrificing himself for the purpose of trying to find the best path for everyone to live in? Perhaps it was because he was always sacrificing himself, always trying to hide the intentions that he had, that he had left such a subtle but profound mark on her mind, and it was an impression that was as mysterious as it was treasurable.

For what kind of man, could really think just like a hero?

Sure, he wasn’t perfect. Sure, he wasn’t someone who had a perfect record in everything that he had done. In fact, many of the parts of him that she liked were the imperfections. Why that was so, she had no answer except that it made him just that much more human, and she knew that he also had his vulnerable side. And yet, regardless of that vulnerable side, he had come to try his best - always. It didn’t stop or deter him from what he needed to do.

But he was also stuck.

Yes, she could feel it. This strong, and powerful man, was stuck somehow. There was something that was wedged within his mind that prevented him from being who he needed to be. There was some sort of confusion that was there, something that was holding him back, something that limited his potential in a way that she couldn’t detect. Perhaps it was his own instability with his notion of love? Perhaps it was his uncertainty of how he should feel? Perhaps it was a rejection of his own nature, something that he couldn’t have stopped, even if he tried?

Perhaps it could’ve been all of these. It was very possible, but she didn’t know. All she knew is that when she looked at him, she saw a lost, hurt, boy… who was also a kind and gentle boy, capable of great influence and leading a mass of many people. He was intelligent, almost too intelligent, but straight forward. He had good intentions, he knew what was right - he knew what was wrong. He didn’t falter, and he was confident in what he believed in. He was strong, steadfast… but he was like her right now. He didn’t know half of the things that he should have known.

Why was it that she was attracted to Rave…? Why, since the very beginning, was it that she couldn’t help but attach herself to him? Perhaps one of things were his voice… he had always sounded so kind, and she could tell that he was a good man. But what was it too… perhaps it was what surrounded him, his aura, when he talked to you, perhaps it was the way that his presence commanded your attention in a respectable way. Perhaps it was, when you talked to him, you felt like you were feeling the innermost parts of his soul.

Every single moment, every single day, that she had spent with him, she was able to sense something beyond the surfact, beyond the surface of him that she couldn’t feel from many other people up until this day. It was perhaps a genuinity that never failed to warm her from the bottom of her heart.

What kind of person must he have been, to have come out this way? How is it that he could transfer his emotions so subtley, yet so powerfully at the same time. And why was it gentle, like a cool tune that sang sweetly in your ear? He just made you feel good, even if it was for no reason. It was uncanny in its own way, but it was also bright - it was clever - and it was amazing in the best sense of the way that she could think of the word. It was. It was.

All these thoughts had to go through her mind before she slowly picked herself back up. Perhaps it was repetitive to go through all this motions at once, but it was her way of redirecting her soul. This was the one and only feeling that she was certain of, and by immersing in it fully was the only way that she could realign any certain that she could have of anything herself. It was her remedy, her medicine, that never ever failed.

And it was this remedy that she would have to express completely, in the next song that she had made that was soley in dedication to it.

The concert was pretty cramped, and the four friends had been standing in the front of the stage for the majority of the night. People around them had grown restless, and everyone around them seemed like they had a lot to look forward to. DW was one of them. She wanted to celebrate it the way that they needed to. Pedro and Rave weren't really that thrilled, to be honest, but they were able to adjust their moods to fit the atmosphere quite nicely.

"That was amazing!" DW shouted, over the crowd around them. "She's coming out again in just a bit." she looked at Rave, her eyes shining uncommonly. "What did you think so far?"

Rave shook his head. "I feel like I've been in a daze, the whole time." more like he was in a daze due to the fact that she was talking to him so lively.

But there was something that he felt. It dug deep in his chest, like some tugs from a rope of chords that were tied there previously. As much as DW looked extremely beautiful at that moment, there was something that seemed to be blocking his allure to her. He didn't know what it was at the moment, but it seemed deeply enrooted in his system.

The lights were dimmed, most everyone's faces were distorted with darkness. The way that they had been for the last few hours or so. Nina was waving up and down, following Calrene's example not too long ago. Looking off to the other side, Rave could see the massive beam that held up the stage. He wondered just how much time and money had gone in order to setup this entire performance. A lot of money indeed; and it showed with the level of her performance. This Tracy Havens... just who was she?

As the curtains began to rise, the music began to start playing again, and an uproar could be heard from within the audience. There were plenty of things that needed to be done when he got home, but all of that had already left his mind. All that was left of all things was just the fragment of his mind that was focused solely on the present. That was how it was. That's just how it was.

As the curtains began to rise, he saw her there, solitary, with her mic solely gripped in her hand. And... as he continued looking at her, he couldn't help but feel like she was looking right at him... with a sad, almost sorrowful look on her face. The music that started playing was slow, but it had a force to it that carried over like a wave that begins to hit the shore.

Her voice started out soft, bt with a delicacy that invoked sympathy with it. A blatant sadness, one that haunted the area with its eerie mysticism with it.

Rave found himself biting his lower lip, his teeth chattering as she began to evoke her song. As she began to... seamlessly... tie each note together with the next, never pausing to hesitate, it was almost as if she were pouring out her soul, her entire being, onto him as if he were a cup. With this feeling, there was something that was brought out that was more than just the essence of her soul. There was something much deeper to it, a sort of humbling, crippling pain that could not be recognized otherwise. He was familiar with it... yes, he was... but from where? From where?

"Perhaps it's since…. you've gone through so much pain… that you must realize how it's just like… to be that one person…. crying in the night."

She closed her eyes softly and slowly began to raise her head upwards.

"And when you see me… when you look into my eyes…. I feel you feel me…. and everything feels so ri….iya….ight. And every time you hold me…. every time you touch, my, face…. what could be this brilliance…. this sweet courageous grace…

Her eyes then opened... and then slowly, she lowered them. She looked at him. She looked at him, with her eyes tearing...

"Going through that icicle cave was dangerous!" Sara yelled back at the group, as they made their way through the tunnel. "It feels so good to finally feel some heat!"

"Well..." Nina made a face before holding a thought. "I really don't think that we're really done with going through the cave just yet..."

She was right. What ended up laid before them, after a half minute or so of walking, was none other than an underground hot spring. Hayate and Hayabusa simply grumbled. Sara, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

"YES!" She yelped, jumping happily. "We finally ran into one of these!"

"Hm?" Hayate shot a sideways glance at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, now that we're here, we might as well make the most of it, shouldn't we?" She gave Hayate a happy glance. "I mean, after all that rock climbing, and bruising my palms and knees~ and also after being attacked by those weird fallen who electrocuted those bats in order to distract us... uhhh, yeah! Like, totally!"

Sara had just finished summarizing all the things that they had gone through before getting to where they were currently. To Hayate, everything had really merely been a pain. But they were able to escape their pursuers, and they were able to navigate through the tunnels due to Hayabusa's uncanny ability to find his place around the area.

"Thank you Haya!" Sara shouted sweetly. "Ok, now you two men get out! Me and Nina need our break time! Break time!!"

Hayate simply rose an eyebrow, and Hayabusa made a small grunt.

"It'd be wise not to split off so eagerly." Hayabusa then told her, shaking his head. "If the fallen were to attack here suddenly, it wouldn't be good for any of you."

"There's no need to take a bath anyways." Hayate pitched in. "Remember, this area is completely illusionar-"

"Well, but we're here, aren't we?" Sara protested. "FINE! You perverts! If you want to stay near, then just make sure you're on the other side of that big rock over there! Yeah! That huuugee one you see right there! Make sure you stay behind it!" She then squinted at the two.

Hayate rolled his eyes. "Like I'd be interested in a baby."

"I'm 17 for your information!" Sara pointed out. "And in your world, that's just the age for you to get in trouble! So scram! Beat it! Go! Now!"

Hayate and Hayabusa looked at her emotionlessly before finally dryly shrugging and making their way off. As soon as they were on the other side of the rock, Sara threw her hands up in victory.

"Who... who are you...?" Rave asked. "What is it that you came here for? What's your purpose?"

The girl in front of him looked like a blur. He didn't know who she was, but he was called to her... by some unknown force. And just as she had pulled him in, he could not help but keep her from leaving. An unclear face... yet a radiant voice... a shadow in the night... a ghost engulfed by the enigma. Perhaps the fragment of a soul, perhaps... someone who had passed? No, it couldn't be... it couldn't be... but then why...

A ringing in his ears caused him to let go, and his hands shot up to the sides of his face. Who was this person? Why did they suddenly appear in the midst of his mind? And why was he feeling... so... confused?

"This sweet... courageous grace..." she whispered. That's all she whispered.

With that, Rave woke up with a start.

"Are you ok?"

Rave turned his head at the sound of her voice. He turned it so hard that for a moment he was afraid it might just end up cracking his neck and putting him out for life.

That sudden rush, however, suddenly faded when he caught sight of the girl sitting by his bed. He stopped, realizing he was at a room that he didn't recognize at all... with a girl he didn't recognize at all either. Or wait, did he...?

"You're lucky your friends rushed you in." She said, timidly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, especially at the middle of performance..."

"H-uh?" Rave shook his head slowly, before coming to. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about... what... happened? And where- where am I?"

"You're in my stage room. It's the only one with a bed in it, see?"

"Your... stage room...?" He then blinked, before recognizing her face and her voice. "Ah-! Miss-miss McCormick!"

Ayane muttered to herself as her and Kasumi continued walking through the tunnel.

"What is it, Ayane...?" Kasumi asked.

"I can't believe we have to wear these oversized CYPHER uniforms." her younger half-sibling remarked, tottering with each step. "Well, at least we ditched everyone else, I hated being surrounded by so much company."

Kasumi sighed. "It couldn't be helped... you said you knew where to find Oni-san..."

Ayane nodded.

"So what's going to happen when we find him...?" Kasumi thought aloud. "If Oni-san really was captured here this whole time... then what of the person who has been with us all this time? It couldn't possibly be that he was an imposter... he was too much... like big brother..."

Ayane shook her head. "I don't know myself, but maybe it's like a Rave/Pedro complex thing. He might not know what's going on, but I'm sure that I'll feel a lot better after we freed him rather than not."

Kasumi remained silent and they continued walking down the hall. It was wide, and much of its surface had been deprecated. There was no glim and glamor that had profusely exposed itself in the beginning of her entering CYPHER. The entire episode of meeting Pedro, and impersonating Calrene as an artificial intelligence robot... it all seemed so far from her. But CYPHER seemed to be this way... so much seemed to happen and not much time had passed in between, once she stopped to think about it.

"I'm worried about Jack..." she suddenly said. "I wonder where he is, I wonder if he's safe."

There seemed to be no rest tonight. As soon as him and Chris had finished going through the Aether core and had split up, he had been chased by this.

He narrowed his eyes before finding a ruptured pipe-line. Drawing his gun in one fluid movement, he shot at the pipe, and after he fired, the bullet shot back from the richochet. It hit the Enforcer in the back of it's head with stunning accuracy right in the middle. Just that was enough to force the charging Enforcer to stumble forth and take a knee.

Taking this opportunity, Jack burst forward and literally kicked off the metal concrete before landing a heel onto the Enforcer's head and using it as a spring to kick off of again. It wouldn't do much harm, however, his main priority was to just get on the other side and run away. The entrance ahead of him now was what he needed. He wouldn't be able to defeat this enforcer, not this one, so all he had to do was keep on his toes and find some sort of way to deal with him as he continued running away.

Rave softly nodded, before looking back up at her. "I'm... fine. Thank you."

The girl smiled.

"I'm glad."

Rave tried to smile back, but found himself unable to do so.

"Is... something wrong?" Kasey asked, her voice slightly wavering.

"N-no... at least, I don't think anything is wrong." He shook his head before sitting up. "I'm sorry-"

"Ahh!!!"

"Oh?" He looked down to see his shirt was completely off. "Oh! I'm sorry! I- I didn't know."

The girl kept her hands over her eyes, blushing profusely. "Oh! Don't worry! I didn't really see anything! Really! I didn't!"

Rave couldn't help but smile a little at her cuteness. "Er- hey, it's ok." he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

She probably still heard it. "No! Er- it's not!"

"And after singing so much about love and the boy that you want..." Rave prodded jokingly. "You'd think you'd have it together in front of someone so ordinary like me."

The girl suddenly stopped shaking slightly. "N-no... it's not that..." Her voice suddenly went very mellow. "Plus, don't make it out as if you were just ordinary. I mean - everyone is special... in their own way, and so are you."

"I... guess." He reached out for her hands and parted them from her eyes. "Hey - you can look now. I'm really just not wearing a shir-"

"Ahh! Exhibitionist!" Kasey quickly covered her face again, but not before slapping away his hand.

"Er- uhh- I guess... sorry~?" Rave couldn't help but hold it in. "Besides... I shouldn't be acting so rudely... you're the star, afterall." He paused. "Which makes me wonder... why are you so flustered now? I mean, have you really ever been in love?"

At this, her hands came down her face in an instant. "Of course!" She countered, her face sticking forward so it was only a few inches from his. "Of course I have!"

"So bold..." Rave blinked, once, then twice. "Well, I didn't mean to offend you... just thought it was kind of weird that you'd have that reaction."

The girl quickly pulled her face away, "It's all right." she said quickly, turning her head to the side. "So um... how did you like my concert?"

Kasey blinked. "Pretty bold?" She turned back to face him. That was the second time he had used that word...

"Yes." He nodded. "Like... the fact that you were so confident in your love... that you were so happy that the guy could really love you... the fact that you were talking as if you knew you had him, even if he had no idea in the first place..."

He suddenly paused, seeing Kasey's face flush regardless of the hopeful awaiting expression she continued to hold. "Do... do you think it was too much...?" She then asked.

Rave thought about it for awhile, keeping quiet, before answering. "Well..." He then said, "I feel like if I thought I were the guy... I'd definitely have some sort of reaction to it..." he mumbled slightly.

"Like passing out?" Kasey joked.

Rave made a face. "Yeah, exactly, like passing out." he sarcastically. "Because I was obviously so 'in tuned' with the music that I wanted to die for you."

This seemed to hurt her when he said this, and instead of a witty combat, she went completely silent.

DW continued up the winding path, chasing the origin of precipitating snow as she went along her way. Pedro's body was the only source of warmth to her as she clutched her shoulder as she continued moving forward.

She was alone here... all alone and climbing up this perilous mountain... but she had been alone before. She had been alone most of her life when she decided to go to the gym everyday and work for her perfect body. She had been alone most of her life when she took unorthodox opinions that many others would probably not be very fond with. She had been alone when she was left alone by her father and she had to take care of her brother on her own...

But then again... she wasn't.

He was there too, wasn't he?

She clutched her shoulder harder. The cold was ebbing into her more than usual, up at this elevation. But if she kept going, she was sure that she'd reach where she needed to. She'd be closer to Pride's lair if she kept going this way. She'd be closer to Pedro and Rave...

Rave...

She paused, hesitating as she thought of him. In a way, she felt bad. It seemed that she never gave Rave a fair chance. She was only always worried about Pedro. But there wasn't really anything wrong about Rave... it was just that... she was already in love. And when you're in love, when you're in love...

A crash suddenly woke her to her senses. She looked hurriedly around, before spotting some smoke around the corner she was about to turn.

She ran to the source quickly, catching up to it and turning the corner.

Laying their back against the mountain wall, face down, legs sprawled out on the floor, was some sort of downed warrior. There was something oddly futuristic about her appearance, and something was making a noise... as if it were broken. A sort of equipment of some sort? In either case, she knew one thing... this woman was foreign, just like her... as in, she didn't originally belong in XX792 in the first place.

"Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling down to her.

"Ughh..." The woman groaned a little, twitching at her voice.

"Hey, are you all right?!"

The woman shifted a little, before turning her head weakly to face her. "uh..."

"Hey, hold up... don't make any unnecessary moves..."

The woman simply shook her head. "You... you too... are against CYPHER... according to the Flats' information... are you not...?"

DW blinked. "Who... are you?"

"I'm Aoi... a hunter... sent to destroy Pride..."

Ah, that's right... she had heard about the Hunters before. But it was her first time confronting one face to face.

"You..." Aoi paused, before attempting to speak again. "You are with Rave... right?"

"We're tracking down the communications hub." Victoria finally explained to them. "We can listen to what's being said from all around, and we can base our next move off that." she paused. "To be honest, there's no other thing I can really see to guide us next on what to do..."

"It should be obvious once we reach it." Chris told them. "We'll hear what's going on, and we can act as support if anyone is in trouble."

"Support? We just support?" Jahn Lee's voice was strewn with irritability as he almost shouted this. "This so boring."

Victoria crossed her arms. Perhaps she was thinking something similar too, but she didn't venture to say anything.

"Yep! Here it is--" Chris pounded on the door, before crashing it open. "You guys wait out here, I'll take care of tapping into the wiring..."

"We no wait." Jahn Lee said, walking up to the man. "We go with you, we hear what they say."

Chris looked back at the man with a small smile pinched on his face, before reluctantly accepting. "All right, come along."

Lei Fang decided to turn to Victoria as Chris proceeded to tap into the wiring.

"Where did Jack go?" She asked her.

Victoria made a heavy sigh. "That fool... he didn't want to waste any time sitting on his hands and went looking for Miku. He wants to get her back... before anything bad happens to her apparently."

"Hm... if anything, won't she be used as a bargain chip?" Lei fang asked.

"A 'bargain chip', eh?" Victoria smiled curtly at this. "Kid, you sure know some interesting words for being in this country for only so long."

"Oh, I learned it on Zack Island." Lei Fang told her.

"Zack Island...?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, where I met Jack..."

"YOU SO SLoW! Can you not hurry?!" Jahn Lee's voice echoed down the hall, it made Lei Fang cringe.

"Shut up!" Chris shot back. "Unless you know how fiber optics work, I suggest you sit your ass and just wait until I have it!"

Victoria shot her head in their direction. "Can't two ladies have a nice small talk?!" she then shouted.

The two men both grumbled, before returning to what they were at.

"Anyways." Victoria waved her hand at the other two's direction before turning to Lei Fang. "You met Jack in Zack island?"

Lei Fang nodded. "Yes."

"Was he always so in love with Kasumi?"

Lei Fang smiled quite a little at this. "No. Actually, I think in the beginning, he actually liked Ayane a little bit more."

Victoria's eyes shot open. "Say WHAT?"

Lei Fang smiled. "Well, things change~"

"We got it working-!" Chris's voice echoed down to where they were at. "Come down and listen you guys."

Victoria made a face. "Huhh... I wouldn't have ever thought that." she turned to face the two men. "Well, looks like our time has cut short, let's make our way towards them."

As they approached, they could hear voices over the intercom shouting wildly, and both Chris and Jahn Lee were listening with their eyes heavily focused.

"The opposition here is strong, especially with this big lug! We need more reinforcement-t-a-h-ahhh-ahh!!!"

Suzuka had heard this once before, but Cidel's voice still didn't register in her brain.

"You are clearly the superior twin... and you've been entrusted to me in order to ensure the welfare of the people for the future."

"Entrusted to you... because of the future...?"

"Yes, for a time in a place where I cannot reach, nor can I get to, not now. We're making a pre-emptive strike in this way."

"Wait... what are you talking about... where am I... what time is it... what are you planning exactly to do? I... I am not worthy at all, I'm not your successor. Hibana was! Hibana always was, wasn't she?!"

Cidel shook her head. "Hibana has been made out to be a decoy if anything were to happen. That's why I've had to personally suppress your power until the right time has come..."

Suzuka shook her head. "I don't think you understand what you're doing here--! I-I mean, in the future, my personality has developed into something that is really totally not divinde goddess material! I mean, I mean, even if I were to get extraORDINARY power all of a sudden right now, I don't think you have the right person to handle that power. I've been playing the undercard up until so far, I've been a follower. I haven't been a hero at all... not in any way whatsoever..."

"It's exactly how we've planned it..." Cidel smiled. "Suzuka?"

Suzuka blinked twice. "Ah- yes?"

"Power is only as strong as the person who is able to wield it... isn't that right?"

Suzuka nodded.

Cidel simply nodded back too.

"Ok, so wait, so you're telling me, that after all this time, after being subdued to being only the way that I have been previously, that I'm somehow going to end up becoming just like you? Is that what you're telling me?" She paused. "Is it that you're telling me that after you're through with me, I'm not even going to be 'me' anymore? I won't be able to retain my identity?"

"In a sense, yes."

"Then, I'm sorry, but with all due respect, I decline."

There was a soft silence between them.

"Because-" Suzuka started. "If finding out my true identitiy is going to change me and the way that I think, then that wouldn't be any different than the me 'now' just dying. And I don't want that. I don't want that to happen. I want to be the same 'me' that I've always been. The same Suzuka I've been to my sister, to my friends, to Rave...

"I had a talk with someone, not too long ago, and she said that the reason why I'm me is because I can feel this moment, because I can actually experience it, and not just experience it, but I can also do as I wish in order to change the outcome of everything around me. That's what she said. That's what existence is. And I believe and want to fight for my existence. For the one that I have, that I own, right now.

"I personally believe that with a personality change, I won't be the same person, and I won't be able to help the way that I have been... in my own way... in my own style. And... and it's not like I wouldn't want to be super powerful, I never said that I would hate being able to be a goddess or like you, the lady of the gods, especially after knowing that I've somehow inherited some sort of 'super' gene, or whatever, but I just can't do it. It's... it's not 'me'."

"That's not how it's going to be." A voice called out from behind her.

Suzuka turned around. "Alexander Skye!"

Alexander, the current one, the one that she was just talking to not too long ago, was right behind her. It wasn't the Alexander of long days past, but rather the person that she had just met not too long ago. It made her wonder from just what timeline he actually came from. From this timeline? Or was it from some future timeline that she was unaware of.

Then again... if today really was the last day for humanity, then there was nothing to really think about - there couldn't have been any future that could've occured that was from beyond where they were.

CYPHER was full of bugs, just like this time stream, but perhaps that was because of what Alexander and Cidel were doing. Regardless, it didn't change the fact that whatever time stream she was in at the moment, she was in complete control of things now, and it was this 'now' that she was most concerned about.

What if the thing that determined the future was the very split second that she was deciding right now? Perhaps it was, but that had been built up from all the other random split seconds that had come before this one. Either way, things would turn out the way that they needed to be. If she were to proceed... if she were to sacrifice herself...

She looked at Rave's dad. "Doctor Skye..." she began...

"Suzuka." He paused a little, before smiling and shaking his head gently. "The only one who can kill yourself... is you." He repeated that again. "The only person who can kill yourself, is you. Other than that, you can only learn."

Suzuka blinked a couple times.

"We don't ask you to change, we simply ask you to grow, and when we say grow, we mean to be able to take some power to your own situation, so you're less powerless. So you're not powerless, and so you can also help everyone else who are in need of your power. Without it, they won't survive."

She blinked again.

"CYPHER is a lot more powerful than you could have imagined, and your trials so far are testament to that. You understand what you're going against."

Suzuka nodded.

"Whether you think about the decision or not, the best decision you'll ever take will be one that is an educated one, one where you know the information rather than taking a blind stab at it." He glared straight into her. "Think about Matsuhiro, the super soldiers, and the mind-blowing theoretical breakthroughs CYPHER has that you're going against -and now, let's be realistic, you'll be needing all the help that you can get."

Suzuka could only stare.

"I know you're afraid, and I know that you have a lot on your mind right now. But you have to remember... that if the world is going to go in one day, you have little other options to take. Because when it comes down to it, you either die out, or you live on."

What Sora Skye remembered from that fated day, five years ago... was something that she never could expect.

The bus drive was a long one, and the seats that her and her brother were sitting on just couldn't feel comfortable. The fabric that covered it had a soft composition, but the way it rubbed against her skin made her feel as if she were allergic.

Perhaps it was because she didn't want to go, or perhaps it was just the anxiety altogether that made her feel uneasy about this. In any case, five minutes isn't supposed to seem like that much time at all... but for her, she felt every single one of those three-hundred seconds.

The wheels on the bus grumbled as they screeched to a firm stop. DW sat frozen, her hair the only thing moving from the small little aftershock. As her brother turned to her, he realized that her eyes were wide open, and she was looking slightly downwards at the back of the driver's seat. She didn't move, she didn't speak... it was almost as if she were a movie film put on pause.

"Sis?"

"I don't have to go." Her voice was soft, but audible. "Go, Dwayne."

"No. I'm not going. Not without you, you promised that you'd come, sis!"

"I..." He pulled her by the sleeve, and she blinked. He pulled a second time, and then, finally, she started to shift over. "Look, how about I go some other--"

"We don't have much time." Dwayne emphasized.

DW finally lost. She sighed before standing up from the seat. "All right, only this once."

Myra turned her head over to look at her usually cheerful passenger. "Is everything all right, Cal?" she asked.

Calrene shook her head. "I just must be feeling out of it today..."

As she took her first steps down the bus, she took every single detail into detail, as if it were vivid, if it were striking, as if she were recording it in video with the highest quality enscribed for every moment. She still remembered the slight smell of burnt rubber she inhaled and the slight nauseatic feeling she never got before when she finally took her second step off the bus.

She was afraid, but she never showed it. She just felt indifference. Indifference and a strong swell in the back of her head.

There was a lot of suffering she had to endure the last 10 years of her life... feeling alone, feeling abandoned, hating herself, hating the world and all the evil ways she knew that it worked... all her questions to as if God existed, and if he did, what kind of man he could possibly be if he was one -- her entire take on the meaning of all life...

It all came from a strong resentment from the father that left her. The father she could never understand. The father that was never there. The father that abandoned them... that ended up making their mother abandon them. They had allowed her to face the cold, harsh world all on their own. At least her mom gave them money for lodging, a house to live in, and enough to get her and her brother by. That was all though. Everything else, her own will to live, and the purpose to do what she did, was from her own will to be the best she could possibly be.

Now, looking up to see her brother running up the concrete steps of the house of the father that abandoned them... it dulled her. What would she do when she saw his face? When she met his wife? When she met their daughter, her half sister? How was she supposed to feel when she'd lie to them and pretend that all was well, that their last names weren't related, that everything was fine and dandy?

Her fist slowly clenched, then unclenched, small beads of sweat dripping at it's side.

""RIIIIINNNG"

She blinked. It wasn't just a normal ring, it was the Kasey McKormick song that Page had for a ringtone. She blinked one more time before she picked up the phone.

"Yes?"

"Hey-" Pedro said, being as normal as ever.

"Hey..." To be honest, she wasn't in the best mood ever. She would probably transfer that the moment he received it on the other end of his phone, and for sure, he did.

"What's wrong?"

DW sighed. "I'm... about to do something that I don't want to do."

"You're about to do something you don't want to do?" She could hear a small laugh. "What does that mean, I'm sure that in order to get the grades that you're getting, you'd be used to doing things whether you liked to or not all the time. It's hard to find something that you don't like to do, right?"

DW smiled a little at this. "Page..."

"Yeah?"

"If you were here, I'd ask you to hug me..."

"Hm?"

"I'd ask you to hug me... because I'm scared."

"What are you so scared about?"

"About--" About meeting my father, but what would he think of that? I'm scared about confronting my family, my past. I'm afraid to see what's on the other side of that door. I'm afraid to tell you how I've felt left behind...

She grit her teeth.

"I want you to close your eyes..."

His voice surprised her, but as always, he knew exactly what to do. She didn't hesitate, she didn't debate... she closed her eyes.

Her eyelids fluttered a little, listening to the sound of his voice, and imagined with her mind the Page that she knew giving her the warmest hug she could think possible.

"I... I feel it..."

"That's my courage, to you." His voice was soft. "Now, I don't know what it is that you're going to face, but you don't have to tell me. All I know is that it's something all in your mind. It's all in your mind, and I'm here to tell you only you can defeat it. That's all."

OOC: Thanks. We'll see what happens, this RPG is literally made up on the spot, so even the authors don't know exactly what will happen next. Of course, we know the overall arching plan of CYPHER and all, but everything in between is fair game. It allows this to really take a life on its on though, right? Lol, thanks for your support. Anyways, you just so happen to be in luck, the next posts after the next one feature Burton and Ayane.

Rave sighed before lifting his head a little, starting to sit up, when, in mid motion, she pressed her hand against his chest and set him back down.

"Wha-" Rave looked back up at the young star, his mouth gaped open.

The star closed her eyes halfway, and looked at him, "You know... there is something about the songs that I sing that is related to someone I knew..." she started, looking at him. "It deals with a specific emotion that I can't really define, it deals with an energy that I can't really put into words. There's something about this power, this, majestic power.... that surrounds me when I sing, when I talk, sometimes when I move, and I don't quite know the source of it. But... it's there. It sure is there, and I can't help but wonder.... what does it takes in order to summon such a will, such a spirit, such an absolute feeling where I know I haven't felt, seen, or heard in the entire world. Tell me... what is that feeling?"

"Perhaps its the feeling that you get when you're able to talk to God." Rave said, putting it simply.

It really didn't make too much sense to her, now that she thought about it, but then again, wasn't there never a way to define a miracle sensation another way? The origin of everything seemed to point towards some sort of God, some absolute divine creator... but beyond that, where did said divine kind of order originate from? And if you kept thinking back, and back, and you keep asking, and asking, you know that you'll never find an absolute answer. Perhaps it was beyond her... but everything when it came to this sort of thing tended to be beyond a lot of people.

"Hey…?"

Rave closed his eyes. "Yes?"

"Why… do people feel such high emotions, you think? Why do you think… we feel so alive?"

Rave sighed. "Because…" he searched for a reason, something, in his brain. He always seemed to have an answer to any given sort of problem. But he didn't. He had none. In fact, he felt really at a loss to this question. Why do we experience such high emotions… why do we feel so alive?

"Perhaps…" he finally said, the words slipping through his mind without him realizing it. "It's so we can react."

"So we can… react?"

"Yes… so we can do what we need to… so we can have purpose in what we do. So we can actually set things in motion… from our emotion."

Kasey sat back, simply listening.

"Because it's usually our emotions that cause us to make decisions, choose to do things… stupid, or not… logical or illogical… it gives us a drive to work."

"Work… for what?"

"Work… for our own interests, maybe… so that our emotions can be qualmed. So we can have peace of mind… so we can be secure." His voice died down. "Perhaps, when there's no internal conflict, when there's no rushing emotions… that's probably the only time that we truly feel, like we're not alive."

Tracy blinked at this.

"So when it comes down to it… what do we really seek, then? Is it that internal peace…? Or… is it that sensation we get when we know we are truly living?"

"I think it's funny how you say internal peace… and then how when we get internal peace, we look to feel alive again…"

"Life can't be all too predictable… in that case, what would be the point of living it~?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I guess…" she paused. "You made it sound so… precise though… your answer. You said that we have strong emotions to react, it doesn't sound very meaningful, but more…"

"I'm thinking about the way things are in the universe… like cells, atoms, electrons, and protons… chemical reactions… they are what make things in this world…" He paused. "If you look at them, and you look at us, you'll realize that we're the same way. Why does a proton have to be attracted to an electron? Why does a boy have to be attracted to a girl? Sure, we don't know why it happens, but that's just the way it goes. It's a reaction. For what purpose? Simply because that's in our nature."

"It's not always like that."

"Yep, good point, but for the mass majority, it somehow is. And you have to think and wonder, sometimes… with such a huge pattern continuing, it's almost like it was just meant to happen."

"So you're saying, like electrons and protons make cells, so do our emotions make us the building block for something bigger?"

Rave grinned at this. "I never thought of it like that, but yes, I guess it kind of is." he closed his eyes. "Whether or not we want to acknowledge it or not, we, as humans, continue to work within ourselves to build something greater. As society evolves, we build cities that keep getting more and more elaborate, we keep developing tools and machinery over and over again. We literally keep building and building… until we create 'genius'."

"Just like… how cells keep interacting with each other until they make a baby…"

"Exactly. And that baby becomes… well…" he pointed to himself, and then her. "People, just like us."

"So you're saying… it's like a cycle."

Rave nodded. "But of course, many things can go wrong. Not everything always works with the norm. And usually, when something is against that norm, it usually gets squashed, or eliminated. It's almost as if… there is a will that is instilled in humans, so that we do what we need to. For those who are outcast in society… who don't follow that same common goal or mentality, they get labelled as something derogatory, and they are wiped out."

"Because they don't follow the program…"

"Exactly." Rave paused. "And that's just the way things go…"

"…."

"Ha…" He smiled a little. "Did you ever hear the phrase 'Freedom is an illusion?'"

Tracy blinked. "Freedom… is an illusion?"

Rave nodded. "Yes."

"How is it an illusion?"

"Well… the fact that you're actually free, that you have fee will of your own… it never exists in reality. Perhaps… the only way you can find true free, freedom, is in your imagination. But even that, in some ways, may already be programmed a certain way due to influence and the trapped mentality that we live in. So it limits us… again, like I said, an illusion."

"So you're saying… there's a will out there… greater than our own… that influences every single step that we take."

"Mhm… think of it… we usually think that the world doesn't work in a universal way, but if that were the case, then why is it that masses of people join together… like, for example, to hear your song? Or why there would be such a huge population that is drawn to the same thing…"

Kasey blinked.

"All these people have different lives, have different experiences, have done so many different things and have so many different types of lifestyles. Yet… you see them altogether… joined as one, drawn to the same thing." His eyes opened. "Like your music…"

"You're saying… that my music calls other people to do what they… what they… were meant to do?"

Rave nodded. "Yeah… it must be in the program… since so many people are drawn to it, you know you're doing something right."

"But my music… you're saying… is only following a higher will? Something that leads all people to do what they do?"

"Yeah…" Rave smiled. "Since, I guess… everyone has their own calling in life, they must be all joined together somehow. I… even saw it tonight."

"You did?"

"Yes… your concert… it drew so many people tonight. To be honest…" he smiled, a little crookedly. "I never knew too much about you, nor could I understand why so many people had a craze over you, or enjoyed your songs. But…"

Kasey rolled her eyes at this.

"…but, they do. They all came, to see you sing… to give them… what they were all perhaps really looking for, deep inside…" he smiled, finally realizing something as he softly closed his eyes.

"What?"

"… hope."

Tracy bit her teeth.

"… hope… and not just any kind of hope, but hope when you see the bleakest situation in front of you, and you keep going for it anyways. When you know that you're crying, you're hurting, and you feel like you lost, but the fact that you keep going. There is a…" he paused. "… sadness, in your voice, but your lyrics ring true. There's a hope in your voice… and… there's something else…"

"Something else…?"

"Yeah…" he said this so plainly. "Unconditional love."

Tracy smiled slightly at this, not helping but to cross a finger under her eye.

"That's what it is…" he said. "And even I… even I can feel it…."

There was something new in his voice. It was a small shake, a quiver, a tremble… something she caught at the very end that sent her heart strings on fire. It hurt her, even though she didn't know exactly what it was… and it scared her, even though she didn't really know why it did.

"As humans… are we really just engines of desire? Of hope, of greed, of self satisfaction… but isn't that what makes us work? We're a bundle of emotions, just like one of those electric generators are filled with energy… causing us to bounce back and forth, faster and faster due to the energy, so we can get something done that we're not even aware of what we're doing?"

"Subconsciously…" Tracy added, in a whisper.

"That's why… even if we think we're free… the freedom may very well be an illusion…"

"Even if it is…" Tracy then said, clearing her throat before continuing. "As long as it's what we want to do, as long as it's what we wish to make, then there's no problem with it, right? Because we're truly doing what we were made to be doing."

Rave was silent for awhile. "We were truly doing what we were made to be doing…"

"Even if I knew that my emotions might be contributing to some higher will, or some higher power, if it's something that I really want to do anyways, I'm really not against it. In fact - to tell you the truth, whether or not it was a higher power's will or not, it wouldn't stop me, I would sing to the boy I love - because I love him."

"Even if you knew you were only being used…?"

"How am I being used… when I'm doing the thing that I want to do most…? Isn't it really not a curse, but a blessing?"

"If it's really what you want to do…"

"If it's truly what I feel like I was made to be doing." She answered. She then peered over down at him, and slowly inched closer. "If it's truly what it is… then how am I not free?"

"Because… your emotions are what traps you…"

"But you just said… when you don't have emotions… it's no better off than being dead…"

"So we find our own reasons… we make our own chemical reactions…"

"And all the chemicals have a use, regardless what we choose… so in the end, if we can choose what part of the world we'll be used as a function in… it's our choice."

Rave was silent for awhile.

"You say freedom is an illusion… but have you ever felt, in your life, that you had a certain obligation to do any certain thing against your will? Have you? If it weren't for society's pressure, if it weren't for some sort of fear, did you really have to go ahead and do it?"

"I've never had to… do anything…"

"How about love?"

"Especially love…" Rave blinked open. "Especially love…"

"And not just a person… but a thing you did, a hobby…"

"Yeah, never had to… although… it already seemed instilled in me…"

"But it was your choice, in the end, right?"

"Yes."

"They always say, that people have their callings… and if they listen to them properly… and make the most out of them, they make the most out of their lives."

Rave nodded. "Yes."

"If we're going to only live… for so long in this world… then what better thing to do… then listen to your own heart?" She said this softly, smiling at him. "What better than to listen carefully, and do what we were made to do?"

"What if we don't know-"

Tracy shook her head, slightly putting her finger on his lip. "No- you know already. Listen carefully, to how you feel truly in your heart, and it'll come to you. It'll… just come to you~"

Rave blinked, looking at this girl. There was something about her… he was very certain about it now… there was something about her, that radiated with something that just drew his attention. Perhaps it was the way of the sound of her voice… perhaps it was the way she was simply looking at him… perhaps it was the way she put her finger, so light and gentle, on top of his lips. It was something so subtle, but so very, very powerful, at the same time.

He felt… like he knew her.

"There are things we probably don't know… or never will." Tracy told him. "But they are as they are… we can only take what we see… and make the most out of them."

OOC: Woah! Well, I thought I was the only one who read through everything before I ended up joining xD. Well hey, if you want to talk more I suggest we do it through email so as to not disrupt the flow of the boards or whatnot. My email is skye_rave_4eva@hotmail.com. There might be other people like you, so if there are, (you're invited too). Anyways, next post--

Burton Shaw/CYPHER/Night/Late/Male

Burton and Helena entered the ball, only to find a bunch of guests sprawled over out on the floor, with no sign or indications of how it might have happened. Behind them, however, was an even later crew that joined the crew - a group of hungry elite soldiers who had just come out of their danger training that they had with Majuna.

"Talk about a late entrance…" Burton said, thumbing his nose with his thumb. "I guess we really missed the party… but I'd have to say, I'm kind of glad that we did…"

"Now is not the time to be funny." Helena pecked. "Among these people, where are the others? Where is Jack, Kasumi, and the team…?"

"Don't see them here." Burton said. "Figures, with all the high technology and preparation everyone had, it'd be a shame if they weren't able to get away from…" he looked around again, at all the people littered everywhere. "… all the fudge these other people had to go through."

"Commander Burton--" Hal took a step forward to address the situation. "According to my knowledge, I'm pretty sure that there will be an all out military attack on everyone infiltrating. Furthermore, I'm sure that CYPHER's military forces will be put into high gear, and I know where the facilities ar--."

"Enough -- soldier! There's no need to worry about that.". A loud voice called out from above them.

They all looked up, and as they directed their gaze, they finally came upon the source of the disruption: Snyder.

He was sitting calmly over the higher level's balcony rails, his legs positioned crossed comfortably with his rapier laid to the side of his lap. He was still wearing his blood red armor, but he didn't look half crystalized like how they imagined him.

"You've got the wrong target, Burton the Engima." Snyder warned. His voice rang clear, but he did not seem at all hostile.

"Oh, please, give me a break. You're telling that to us now after waiting up there for who knows how long just to make fun of us?" Burton had now calmed down, but placed a hand on one of the dual PP1000's that he was accustomed to wearing. "What gives, Snyder? You're our mortal enemy, right? You even stole Kasumi and we had to chase your butt back here. So why the sudden turn?"

"Major Skye, being one of them." Snyder said, surprisingly convincingly.

Burton made a quick face, but continued looking on at him.

"There's not much you can really do, my friends, in terms of helping the others out. Most of them have been captured by the latest design of Enforcers that were made. Not many people stand a chance, not even I."

"Stop being Mr. Shakesphere you son of a bitch!" Lee roared "We're going to kick those things' asses whether you like it or not! I don't care if your weak ass stands a chance against them or not!"

"Wow… it looks like we have the Avengers." Snyder said, laughing slightly to his amusement. "I figure you're Bruce Banner? But what's this, where's Iron Man?"

Ayane sneezed. No - she actually sneezed - and it was hard. So hard, it almost even dazed her for a second, but the thing is she didn't know why.

"Are you ok?" Kasumi asked, concern welling on her face.

"… Yes… I'm fine…" Ayane grumbled. "Anyways… we're close enough… let's ditch these suits and start making our way to where Oni-san is."

They quickly (and quite gratefully, at that) stripped off their CYPHER uniformed suits and got back to feeling the freedom of their original uniforms. Kasumi, who had a lot more leg-room and flexibility now, made a delightful sound of glee as she stretched and reaccustomed herself.

But as Ayane herself became acclimated to the scenario at large, she couldn't help but feel like there was something missing… something was off.

Kasumi looked back at her sister, but decided not to ask any questions. If Ayane wanted to tell her something, she would hear it when the time came. Other than that, she had no reason to pry into her problems.

With a quick jump-start, Ayane took a leap and went flying to the suspended wall across the gaping drop hole. Much like a fence, this wall was punctured with holes big enough to fit one or several of one's fingers in at a time. Ayane took hold of these and spread herself out, as to equalize the weight and distribute it evenly to all four of her limbs in her body.

Kasumi followed after, and much like her younger sister, distributed her weight so she could hang onto the wall comfortably, or, as comfortably as she could.

With that, they started climbing. Once they were at the peak, they both made a quick flip, and then jumped up to a pair of two walls facing each other in considerable distance. They then began to wall jump, up along both walls, making their way closer and closer to their destination. After that were some diamond poles that they had to sift through, suspended up high in the air, and then after, they leapt into a huge open pipe that looked pretty hot and steamy.

As they landed inside, they noticed the tongues of flame that began to immerse from various sections of the ground. They would shoot up swiftly, for a short interval of time, and then would pause for awhile before shooting up again. The good news was that these intervals seemed to be very consistent. The bad news being… there were simply so much of them that it wouldn't be easy to make their way through unscathed.

"Ane- let me go first." Ayane said, taking a step forward.

"But Ayane, you'll just end up burning yourself!" Kasumi yelled out.

But Ayane didn't listen. She made the first jump, then swiftly strafed to the right, narrowly missing two tongues of flame. She then launched up, leaping over another flame before landing on the ground and somersaulting, dodging a flame that emitted from the top.

The next flame came from the side, and Ayane barely dodged that, but not without a frantic yell, and then lastly, one more flame came from the other side, knicking her shoulder as she passed by.

Ayane didn't yell out, but Kasumi could see the tears in her eyes as she grasped her shoulder and made one final spin, dodging the last flame, before being completely free.

Again, Kasumi wanted to shout out something, say something to her sister, but she realized that now was not the right time.

She patiently waited, just like Ayane, for the perfect timing, and then went next. She did all the stunts and maneuvers that Ayane had, but she did them all with more grace, and much more confidence, knowing that since her sister had been able to survive it, that it would also work for her. At the very end, she dodged the second to last flame sets completely and then finished out without a single bit of harm.

"Ayane, how is your arm?" She asked, as she landed safely.

"It's… going to be fine…"

Kasumi blinked, seeing some charred tissue and blood…

"Stop." she said, grabbing her shoulder. "We need you to heal that…"

Ayane shook her head. "No, it's ok…"

Kasumi was persistent. "No." she looked deep into Ayane's eyes. "I don't want this to hurt you, we're finding a capsule pod… and you're staying there so you recover…"

"Capsule… pod?" Ayane laughed, albeit dryly. "Do you think we can just find something like that here? You've got to be kidding. And what would Oni-san say if we had to stop just to get my one little arm healed. Ridiculous!"

Kasumi shook her head. "What is the name of it again…? Oh yes… Nyla…"

"Nyla…?" Ayane's head tilted.

"Well… it is a serum that could help heal you right away." Kasumi pointed out to her. "If only I had a little of it… or if there was a way I could find it somewhere…"

She tried to keep herself from breathing hard, but she couldn't help herself. Perhaps, on the outside, she wasn't breathing that hard at all. But she could tell in the inside that she was tremendously nervous.

What laid out before her was a very clean and beautiful living room. Plush with white sofas, and paintings with white frames hung around a light beige colored wall. Penetrating through the living room was an entrance to the family room and the kitchen, both connected together without any walls to separate them.

On her left was an elaborate staircase leading up to the second story, and up above, she could hear the running footsteps of her brother and perhaps Nina Skye, chasing each other or running around as they yelled out in words she couldn't pay attention to or even spend the energy to discern.

What caught her attention the most, however, was the wooden table the sat squarely in the middle of the family room beyond the room she was in now. It wasn't specifically the table that caught her attention, but the lone figure sitting at the table, with her head tilted looking outside the glass sliding door that was to her left, at the backyard.

She figured it must have been Rave and Nina's mother. She paused for a moment, hesitating before actually finding out what to do. From what she gathered, neither Rave nor his father were in the house, but just because they weren't here didn't mean it made it any easier for her. The Skye mother was just as intimidating to her. The little sister, she wasn't too afraid of, but this woman was a different matter.

"Feel free to leave your shoes at the entrance." The woman's voice echoed around the room. Calrene gently blinked, recognizing the tone of voice as a nice one. It calmed her down slightly, but she still didn't feel all that very calm here. Regardless, she sucked it up and responded normally, at least as much as she could muster.

"Thank you, ma'am." Her voice echoed back, returning the favor.

The lady was silent for a moment, and didn't say a word. Calrene almost got the impression that this woman was just as apprehensive as her. There was a strange aura about her though, sure enough.

"Please… have a seat."

Calrene complied and did as the woman said, right before she turned her gaze from the sliding door to her direction.
__

Kasey simply smiled. "Well, I'm glad that you feel better now. You… ought to go back to your friends now and regroup with them."

"Sure thing. I think so too." He paused right then. He paused, really hard. Kasey McCormick was an all-star singer, she had thousands, if not millions of fans, and here he was, having a comfortable, fairly easy conversation with her. Not only that… but she was being really nice to him. Really, really, nice. They had even just finished talking about some philosophy. "…Hey, Kasey…"

"Hm?"

"Is this how you treat all your fans?" He asked, his voice going up a slight octave as he said so. It was so cute to her that he thought it made her laugh.

"Well~!"

"Well, because if it is, you really are a super sweet girl." Instinctively he turned his face away. "You should be careful… not everyone in this world can be trusted, you know. You took your chances with me, but, if you do this with everyone you really leave yourself wide open and vulner-"

"I know~" Kasey smiled. "I just know that you're good."

"You know?"

She nodded. "I know."

There was a conviction in her voice that couldn't be denied.

"If that's the case, then thanks." He bit his lip a little. How he was able to converse so easily too, he had no idea. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure~"

"The guy that you always talk about… the one you always dedicate all your songs to… what kind of guy is he?"

With this, she certainly laughed. But it wasn't a laugh that scoffed the idea, it was more of an embarrassed, flighty kind of laugh that seemed a little happy that it was being asked. "Well… how do you describe yourself?"

"Eh?" He was surprised at the sudden question.

"Yourself." She repeated. "Is it so easy, to describe yourself, to all of your entirety?"

"No, I promise this'll be quick. Can you? How would you describe yourself to me, if I were to ask you exactly who you were, right now, and you had to answer that?"

"Turning the tables I see." He smirked a little.

"Hey, I'm challenging you." She leaned forward to him and smirked herself. "Well?"

"Well." He looked away for a second, before reestablishing eye contact. "If I were to tell you how I was myself, I'd say that… that… I've got a big heart. I like helping people a lot. And… I'm vulnerable sometimes because of that. I always talk like a big shot sometimes, but I really don't know where it comes from in the first place. I like sports, like having fun, having deep meaningful conversations-- I like life, I'm carefree, I really try to keep ahead of my game, and I think outside the box."

He frowned a little.

"Quite didn't give everything completely, did it?" Her voice echoed his current thoughts.

He nodded.

"Well! Hey, the guy I like is a lot like your description! What a kiwinky dink~" she winked. "I think that'll work just fine."

Rave's mouth just stayed open. "… Okay, wait, anything about that other guy that's different than me? In any way?"

"Hmm…" She seemed to think about this a little. "Well, from what I remember, he was a lot younger than you when I last saw him… I bet he has an amazing body now though like you… and hmm, what else…"

She seemed to think more, but it really looked like she couldn't think of more anything else. "Well, how long has it been since you've seen him?"

"A couple years." She answered. "I was hoping I'd get to see him again in one of my concerts, you know?"

"Really." Rave nodded his head, seeing how that could be. "Well, maybe he's already come to one of your concerts, wouldn't it be funny if he was in one of the front rows?"

"Or passed out?" Kasey giggled a little at this.

"Hey, cut it out~" He laughed back a little. "Well, you've wanted to see him so long. What would you do if you got to talk to him? I mean - wouldn't that be great?"

Kasey looked at him a little funny, with one of her eyebrows a little crooked with an equally squiggly smile. "Well… uh, you see…"

"Hm?"

"Well…" She looked away from him then, sighing softly, but somehow also lovely. "…you know my story from my songs… so… you could probably imagine how it'd be…"

"Oh…" He paused. "… like, even if he didn't know it, he was completely yours and you were going to take him no matter if he liked it or not -- since it was DESTINY~ and all the magical things that your song says."

"Heyy, you cut it out now~!" She tagged back, shoving him playfully. "That's not what I was saying."

"Yes it was~" Rave returned curtly. "You're going to make him fall for you against his will, most likely, even if he doesn't remember you, or even know who you--" He paused, a deathly silence overtaking him before he blinked. "--are…"

"A~yep! So… it may as well be you!" Kasey laughed. She then grabbed her sides, laughing more.

Oh, what a joke… what a joke… Rave rolled his eyes, missing her wipe the stray tear from her eye. He forced himself to laugh a little too. "Nice one… nice one… lucky him…"

"Lucky you…" Tracy echoed.

"Okayy, okay, enough of the jokes, Crazy~"

He suddenly bit his tongue. Sharp.

"Ah!"

"Oh! Are you okay?" Kasey went to him quickly. "Hey, open your mouth…"

"Ughh…" He winced tight, it hurt to the point that even his ears hurt.

"Open-- Dave."

He listened, his eyes still wincing. "Ah…"

He then came to a realization. Dave?!

The moment she saw blood, she took his face with both palms and planted her mouth right over his. Before he even knew what was going on, the soft, wet, feel of her tongue overflooded his senses.

"Ahh…" He moaned slightly as she sumptuously dug her way in, deeper, softer, tender, almost as if she were taking her time enjoying some rich, exotic, fruit between her lips.

He lost his mind at that moment, and before he realized it he was returning it back. It was a familiar dance… a tune he had gone through before, almost… but while it had a trace of nostalgia, this was definitely something so sweet he was sure he had never experienced it before in his life. This was pure.

Her sweet voice returned in moans as they proceeded… and before he knew it they were making out on top of his bed… or her bed… but it didn't matter now. It was their bed.